December 26, 2023
The following transcript is from an interview with Maher Mezher, member of the General Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, on Al-Mayadeen TV, published by Resistance News Network, Dec. 25, 2023.
Hamas fighters
- Our people remain steadfast and unswerving and will not deviate from continuing to resist the occupation.
- The enemy has carried out organized killings and genocide, as we saw in the massacre at the Al-Maghazi camp yesterday.
- The enemy aims with its crimes to pressure the resistance forces to succumb to the Zionist dictates and conditions that the War Council is trying to impose to stop the aggression.
- Our people will not bow, despite the thousands of martyrs, tens of thousands of wounded, and the destruction that affects homes, mosques, schools, and hospitals.
- Salute to the fighting resisters who confront the enemy in all battlefields from Jabalia to Gaza to Khan Younis.
- Our people carry the message of steadfastness and perseverance until the occupation ends.
- The criminal leadership of the enemy and its War Council try to continue the killing operations it practices against our people to protect its neck from prosecution.
- The enemy believes that the operations of killing, genocide, and the policy of starvation could possibly undermine the resolve of our people.
There is a difference between the Qatari proposal and the Egyptian proposal, which aims for a cease-fire. The Qatari proposal was presented by the head of the Mossad [Israel’s Intelligence and Special Operations] which was presented to the leadership of the Hamas movement, which stressed the need to remove the barriers and return the population to the cities of the north.
The Hamas movement presented a clear position emphasizing that negotiations will not take place until the aggression against our people stops and aid enters the Gaza Strip, after which the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip will be negotiated.
This proposal was rejected by the enemy, and then a different Egyptian proposal was presented based on several stages that begin with the release of civilian prisoners in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners.
This will be followed by a complete cease-fire in all the cities of the Gaza Strip, the redeployment of the “Israeli” forces penetrating into the Gaza Strip, and allowing the freedom of movement of citizens from the south to the north, including the movement of trucks and cars.
The proposal is also based on stopping all aerial activities of occupation aircraft, including drones, and intensifying the introduction of humanitarian aid.
The next stage includes the release of all female soldiers detained by the resistance in Gaza, in exchange for the release of an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners in the occupation prisons, and the handover of all bodies held by the resistance and the occupation since October 7, provided that this stage extends for 7 days.
The third stage of the Egyptian proposal during which negotiations will take place for a month, regarding the resistance’s release of all “Israeli” prisoners in exchange for the occupation’s release of an agreed-upon number of prisoners in the occupation’s prisons.
The determinants of implementing the proposal relate to the fact that shooting will be suspended for 48 hours before starting to implement the proposal and agreeing on the names that will be released from the first and second stages, so that the transition to a stage will not take place until after the completion of the previous stage.
Once the proposal is agreed upon, implementation of the agreement will begin, with all parties adhering to the time limit for negotiation.
The proposal includes Egypt, the United States, and Qatar coordinating the formation of a factional or political “technocratic” unity government in Gaza and the West Bank, and announcing a comprehensive cease-fire, to be implemented with Egyptian, Qatari, and U.S. guarantees and follow-up.
