TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH (From text in JP News)
“Mish’al demanded of us that we repress the revolution and kill the protesters”. Bashar Al-Assad lifts the veil off Hamas’ face and exposes Mish’al’s conspiracy to destroy Syria.
President Bashar Al-Assad exposed, during a meeting with leaders of the Palestinian communities in Europe, at the sidelines of the Third Convention of the communities, which was convened in Damascus at the beginning of this month, the details of the strained relationship which existed between Syria and Hamas and the total break at the end.
President Assad threw light on Hamas’ effort to mediate between the Syrian “regime” and the Muslim Brotherhood. The Syrian government rejected the mediation.
During the encounter, which lasted hours, Assad elaborately discussed the Hamas Movement and the (P)LO:
“We in Syria, since the onset of the Palestinian revolution, opened doors for the Palestinians and gave them all we could, the most important of which was that they sensed they lived in their own country.”
He said:
“We agreed and disagreed at different stages with the Palestinian leadership, and from time to time, but, there never took place a parting or complete breach with any Palestinian side”, adding, “that during the year 1999 after the leadership of Hamas was ejected from Jordan, we opened the door for them despite our bitter* experience with the Brotherhood and we said that anyone who is pursued or besieged by Israel or America will find our doors opened before him regardless of his beliefs.”
Assad also mentioned that
Syria granted them all facilities, and all capabilities for the sake of the Palestinian cause. Syria knew ahead of time that they (Hamas) were an extension of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood with whom we fought and battled for a long time. Yet, from a nationalist perspective, we distinguished between them and the Muslim Brotherhood and we dealt with them as Palestinian resistance fighters – a people with a cause”.
He continued:
“They used to always sing the praises of Syria’s patriotic and nationalistic positions and we’d say to them that Syria was only undertaking its patriotic and nationalistic duties. Then, pressures and embargos were were imposed on us from that same moment when we embraced Hamas.”
Assad then pointed out that
“after the invasion of Iraq and the fall of Baghdad, American emissaries would come to us with threats and warnings that American and Alliance Forces were on their way to Syria, so the ball was in our court, and that the only thing asked of you was to throw Hamas out of Syria.”
“We rejected that and we stuck to our positions despite the weak Syrian situation at that stage. Advisors and friends came to us from all quarters warning us and telling us not to destroy Syria.”
“Get Hamas out of Syria! In spite of that we refused insistently and boldly. All that was derived from our faith in the Palestinian cause.”
He turned to the fact that
“Hamas settled in Syria and conducted its affairs in total freedom and openness; it found a safe haven for itself here. We granted them facilities which were never granted to any party in the history of Syria.”
He likewise touched on how Hamas’s leadership would seek out the opinion of the (Syrian) leadership with regard to every contact with Arabic countries and would look with great seriousness to the regional role on the Palestinian cause…and here I say, a second time, they considered the regional role as one of the instruments of Israel and the United States.
Assad said:
“During one of my previous meetings with Khaalid Mish’al, he came and advanced a position that the Hamas leadership, from the standpoint of paying back a debt to Syria, that they, in the Movement, are asking our permission to start putting forth efforts with the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood Movement to work toward a reconciliation with the Syrian state and that they, i.e. Hamas, are able to accomplish that. They sensed a very positive (reaction) from the Muslim Brotherhood with regard to this effort.”
He added:
“I told Mish’al that you are a Palestinian and a (member of the) resistance, and so I ask you not to interfere in the internal affairs of any Arab country. Our problem with the Brotherhood is an internal Syrian matter. Don’t involve yourself in it. You must maintain one singular cause and that is that all should be supportive of you. Don’t lose one party on account of another. Your cause requires the efforts of all. So, I don’t see that it is necessary for you to interfere in the internal affairs of any country. And we don’t demand that you return a favor for our position in regards to you for what we undertook was a duty and an obligation for the cause of Palestine.”
He (Assad) indicated that he reassured Mish’al “of the need for them to spare themselves the trouble clarifying:
“I told him the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria are Syrian citizens, firstly and lastly, such that it is only laws and statutes that separate us. I don’t want to take a long time on this matter, instead, I want to move you to the onset of the Syrian crisis.”
President Assad then said:
“I remember that Mish’al met up with a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in this country, before the beginning of the Syrian crisis, but, after the events in Tunisia and during the events in Egypt. He told him that we in Hamas are expecting an American/Israeli conspiracy against Syria, and, that they are thinking about striking the center (mihwar) of the Resistance. And we expect Syria, which is the spearhead of this center, to become a target. And we, from this time on, without hesitation or thought, announce honestly that we shall be loyal soldiers for Syria in this historic battle.”
“With the onset of popular protests and events in some Syrian cities, I met with Mish’al who headed a delegation from Hamas. He was more extreme than me or the Syrian leadership. He demanded that we suppress and liquidate this movement with total force because it was a sign of the international conspiracy against Syria.”
“On that same day, Mish’al told me we should show them no mercy because they were stooges of America and Israel, reasserting his position that the defense of Syria now was the same as the defense of Palestine. He announced his and his movement’s readiness to be the loyal soldiers of Syria as soon as the request came, and, for that purpose, the Hamas Movement, began contacts and correspondences with many parties to explain this conspiracy to which Syria was exposed.”
President Assad then elucidated:
“We were not confident about or comfortable with Hamas’ position. We had those among us who urged caution about the role which might have been prepared for them. The events continued and every day we used to pick up on interference from elements in the Hamas Movement in what was happening in Syria. We arrested some of them and released them after their leaders came to condemn that, saying to us that these were individual cases. Here I remember one event and that was Khalid Mish’al’s daughter and her husband who had control over an operation to transport arms exploiting the immunity granted to the leadership of Hamas. So, we released them later, and we would say `who knows what might be or what could be’”
“In truth, we have to point out here that Hamas was able, in the beginning, to deceive some of our regional allies who used to have faith in it and believed in its positions. We used to apprise them, one by one, of all the interference and transgressions of Hamas. But the biggest disaster was that Hamas tried to make a fool out of the Syrian state under slogans of cooperation with and devotion to Syria. (All the while) they were supplying us with deceptive and misleading security reports.”
“At that moment, we realized that Hamas was a main partner in what was happening in Syria. But, we didn’t announce it. And the situation stayed as it was. However, we, as a Syrian state started to deal with them as a party conspiring against Syria. We took down and followed their movements and interference. And there were those who came to us from the sons of Hamas who were faithful to Syrian lands to tell us what the Movement was doing against Syria. Despite that, we wouldn’t deal with them in the open just as it was our position in secret. Then, the former Foreign Minister of Qatar, Hamad Bin Jaassim, came at the head of a delegation from the Arab League to Syria, on a mission only to surprise us by convening a meeting between Khaled Mish’al and Hamad in the Qatari Embassy in Damascus. Hamad, during that phase, was leading the campaign against Syria.”
“The (Syrian) State summoned Mish’al and informed him in sharp language that the meeting contained violations of the etiquette of hospitality, protocol and respect. What he should have done was contact the State and say that he was invited to meet the foreign minister of Qatar or that he wanted to meet with him. But, that didn’t happen. The two sides acted as though Syrian land was taken as booty. At that moment, the Hamas Movement was publicly and openly restricted on Syrian soil and we started to detect, day after day, their interference.”
“I assure you that what the Yarmouk Camp saw and what it sees, including other camps, did not surprise us. We expected it. From the beginning we realized that there was something being made ready for the camps. And it was Hamas which was the party working on that score. Fearing the outbreak of fighting on our flanks, we had the opinion from the beginning to let them miss the opportunity so that there would be no talk about a Palestinian-Syrian conflict. This was what was being prepared both internally and externally. We did not ask any Palestinian party to take a stand with us or to lean toward us. We only insisted that Palestinians stay like that.”
“We did not ask the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, despite our flagging relations during the period accompanying the events in Syria, to side with us. Likewise, we did not criticize them for their neutrality. We saw in their position a victory for their cause. This was their right. However, what shocked us (“froze our breast) was that the Palestinians themselves were most among the parties and people who understood the reality of the conspiracy which was being prepared for Syria. So, what has happened and is happening; that the target is the “regime” is a lie and a falsehood. The aim is to destroy Syria as a victory for Israel. This is the view of the Palestinians. They are right. And, with immense pride, I say that the Palestinian people outstripped all others, even the Syrians themselves, in understanding that.”
He turned to the fact that Palestinian patriots and at their pinnacle, the Palestine Liberation Organization and President ‘Abbaas, realized the enormity of this conspiracy; that the fall of Syria is the fall of the Palestinian cause. President Assad said:
“We now are as happy as we can be in hosting you and likewise extremely happy that the Syrian conflict pulled away the mask of political Islam in a manifest and obvious way. That which does not believe in patriotism or nationalism. Rather, it believes only in its own self interest. It strives for it no matter who is its ally. No values, no morals. No principles. No honesty. No loyalty. However, despite what has happened, he was good to the entire Arab people. (Umma) Don’t be deceived by the media or the positions of nations. All are rushing now to Syria for the sake of relations under the table. But, Syria’s position is that there must be visible relations. He who has deceived and conspired against Syria must announce that honestly and publicly because, in that, there is a lesson for others.
Translation from the Arabic by Ziad Amin Abu Fadel, Supreme Court certified interpreter for Arabic/English. We thank JP News for providing the text.
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