Hamas: Loss Of Hope Behind Jerusalem Violence

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By Tom Rayner, Middle East Reporter

The leader of Hamas has claimed rising violence in Jerusalem is the result of Palestinians having lost hope of any "just solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In an exclusive interview from his base in Qatar, Khalid Meshaal said recent deadly attacks against Israelis were the fault of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "playing with fire" by allowing right-wing activists to enter the Al Aqsa Mosque compound.

Mr Meshaal warned it could lead to "chaos in the region".

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of being behind attacks on civilians, and said Palestinian leaders were inciting violence by misrepresenting its policies regarding the sacred area, known to Jews as Temple Mount.

Hamas, deemed a terrorist organisation by EU governments and the US, has not claimed responsibility for the attacks - but Mr Meshaal refused to condemn them.

"The Palestinian people no longer have anything to lose in light of the continuation of the occupation and settlements, stealing the land, the attacks on the women and children and the Holy sites," he said.

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Israeli firefighters prepare to tow the vehicle of a Palestinian man at the scene of what police said appeared to be a deliberate attack on pedestrians in East Jerusalem

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man looks into the vehicle near the scene of the attack

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The motorist rammed into the crowd on a busy street and then got out of his vehicle to attack people with a metal bar. Israeli police shot him dead.

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At Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque, people run for cover during clashes between Israeli police and stone-throwing Palestinians. Continue through for more pictures

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Palestinians run for cover as Israeli police use stun grenades to disperse a crowd in Jerusalem's Old City

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"The reaction is spontaneous…The Israeli stubbornness, combined with the international impotence in solving the Palestinian issue with a just solution, which gives the Palestinian people their self-determination, and gets rid of occupation… will lead to chaos in the region, not just in the Palestinian arena, but to an open conflict - a blood-bath."

"We warn against keeping the Palestinian issue with no solution and stripping the Palestinian people of hope," said the Hamas leader.

"Those betting on a security solution for stopping the resistance, by hunting its leadership and blocking weapons coming to its fighters, through the security cooperation of the Palestinian Authority with the Israelis, with regional and international cooperation - all of this has proven useless.

"Because when public anger reaches its limit it explodes on its own, and expresses itself in ways that surprises everyone."

Read the full transcript of the Sky News interview with Khalid Meshaal

Mr Meshaal, who leads the political wing of the group, said Hamas remained committed to reconciliation with President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.

He described it as a "national necessity" despite the apparent deterioration of relations following bombings targeting the property of Fatah officials in Gaza.

He also claimed Hamas was committed to the goal of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders - a position Mr Meshaal said was enshrined in Palestinian reconciliation agreements signed with Fatah and other factions - but that it would remain committed to "armed-resistance" until it was achieved.

When asked whether this made the prospect of resolution impossible, Mr Meshaal said: "Put Hamas aside, what about Mr Mahmoud Abbas?

"He has positions which satisfy Western and American standards. And with all this, what has Netanyahu done in return? Nothing.

"Therefore the problem is not the Palestinian position, whether from Fatah or Hamas, or the leadership, the fault is Netanyahu's position."

Mr Meshaal also welcomed the recent symbolic votes in the France and UK parliaments supporting recognition of a Palestinian state.

He described them as "excellent developments", adding: "the world has started understanding the justice of the Palestinian cause".

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Tampolan Telak