Hamas: American visit to Gaza Strip step in the right direction

Hamas: American visit to Gaza Strip step in the right direction

Hamas Movement has described the visit of members of the US Senate and Congress to the devastated Gaza Strip as “step in the right direction” although it was prompted by humanitarian reasons.


Former US presidential Democrat candidate Sen. John Keri paid a visit to the tiny coastal Strip shortly after two members of the US Congress Bryan Bird and Keith Alison inspected the devastation left by the monstrous Israeli war on Gaza last month. The visit was the first visit paid by US official figures since Hamas Movement took control of the Strip two years ago.


“We hope that the visit will be followed up by more steps that could contribute in rectifying the US policy in dealing with the Palestinian issue. To support the just cause of the Palestinian people, and to lift the oppression that was inflicted on them due to the wrong American polices in the past that gave Israel the green light to commit massacres in the Strip”, asserted Hamas”s spokesman in Gaza Fawzi Barhoum in a statement published by the Bayan Information center (BIC).


“The smooth entry of the American delegation to the Gaza Strip proves that we (Palestinians) don’t close doors for any visitors willing to see the volume of the destruction left by the Israeli aggression on the populated Strip”, asserted Barhoum, urging the American delegation to convey the picture to the American public, and to the decision-making circles in the USA with the aim to prompt the new US administration [under Barack Obama] to start new stage in dealing with the Palestinian issue.


Barhoum also opined that the visit was an indirect step to break the isolation imposed on the Gaza Strip, and the legitimate government of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haneyya although he blamed the Democrats delegation for not meeting officials of the democratically elected PA government, warning that the statements of Keri about the Palestinian home-made rockets could be taken as pretext by the Zionist occupation to continue the aggression on the Palestinian people.


For his part, Hamas”s lawmaker MP Mushir Al-Masri seconded Barhoum”s remarks, and urged the US delegation to see for themselves the volume of destruction inflicted by the Israeli occupation on the Strip, and to know the Zionist mentality that promotes murder and destruction, urging the new US administration to stand equal distance from the Palestinians and the Israelis.


But he underlined that Hamas wasn’t gasping to meet US figures as “doors of Hamas are open before all”, adding that what was important for the Movement is for the delegation to convey the real picture of the Israeli destruction in Gaza.