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Hamas hands celebrate victory after Israeli retreat (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners September 14, 2005 |
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| Some of the tens of thousands calling for the death of Israel. (AP) |
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Tens of thousands filled the center of Gaza City Tuesday evening for the biggest Hamas demonstration ever seen here, celebrating Israel's pullout and listening to Hamas leaders vowing to continue the fight until Israelis leave the rest of the Palestinian areas.
The huge rally was a statement of strength of the Islamic movement, which is challenging the mainstream Fatah, headed by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, for control of Gaza, along with contesting parliamentary elections.
Fireworks lit up the sky. A stage set up at the central square was decorated with green Hamas flags and pictures of Hamas leaders killed in Israeli raids -- founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, his successor Abdel Aziz Rantisi and Gaza commander Salah Shehadeh.
The rally came just a few hours after Abbas gave a televised speech to his nation, pledging to restore order in Gaza, putting his security forces in control.
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar insisted his group would not disarm. "These weapons will remain aimed at the chest of the enemy until we achieve liberation, God willing," he told the crowd. "We are not going to rest until we raise the flag of Islam over the minarets of Jerusalem."
"We will be victorious in Jerusalem and Palestine, Mahmoud Zahar declared. "We swear to liberate Haifa and Jaffa and return our people from the refugee camps to this land, to liberate it from the Zionist conquerors."
Hamas has been responsible for dozens of suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis during more than four years of Palestinian-Israeli violence.
Israel completed its pullout from Gaza on Monday.
A relative of another Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who gave her name only as Um Mohammed, 42, said Hamas attacks drove Israel out. "It's the blood of the martyrs that liberated the land," she told The Associated Press, referring to Palestinians killed in clashes with Israel and attacks. "Their blood ... purified the land."
She added that Hamas would not lay down its arms "as long as there are Jews in Palestine." Hamas does not accept the existence of a Jewish state in the Middle East, though it has said it would accede to a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza as a temporary measure.
Among the thousands at the rally were visitors from Egypt who climbed over the border to Gaza -- until Monday one of the most heavily guarded sites in the Middle East.
"If you only tell me to go to Jerusalem, I will walk there," said Adel Moneim Mohammed, 41, from El Arish. "I'd love to stay forever."
For the first time, Hamas is fielding candidates in Palestinian parliamentary elections, after doing well in three rounds of municipal voting. Fatah and Hamas are competing for credit for the Israeli pullout, and public perception of that could weigh heavily on the parliamentary vote.
Abbas has scheduled a formal celebration of the exit of the Israelis for Wednesday at Neve Dekalim, the largest Israeli settlement, now abandoned and mostly destroyed.
AP contributed to this report.
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