On Jan. 16, 2024, 100 days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack, Bassem Na’im, a member of the terror group’s political bureau and formerly a health minister in the Hamas government, published an article on the Al-Jazeera website stating that “the heroic operation” was a turning point that would shape the future of the Palestinian cause on the national, regional and international levels.
The following are excerpts from the article, translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute:
‘Israel’s defeat is completely feasible’
One hundred days after the heroic resistance operation of Oct. 7 and [the start of] the fascist Zionist aggression against our Palestinian people…the main question is: After 100 days of war, what next? We are still in the midst of a cruel war on every level, and it may be too early to draw conclusions. But all the signs indicate one thing, namely, that the situation after Oct. 7 will not be the same as the situation before Oct. 7, in terms of the strategic [condition] of the struggle of our Palestinian people and its just cause—whether on the national, regional or international levels, or in terms of the enemy and its future.
On the national level, our people has recovered in terms of its national struggle and its belief in its ability to overcome the degrading reality of the Oslo [Accords] and their disastrous consequences. The most important thing is that the scenario of liberating [Palestine], returning [to it], defeating the enemy and dismantling its enterprise has become feasible, even completely feasible. Oct. 7 was a scaled-down model of the final war of liberation and the disappearance of the Zionist occupation.
In this context, Oct. 7 marks the boundary between two stages for the leadership of the Palestinian national enterprise. Since Oct. 7, it is no longer acceptable for the members and the main ideology of the [Palestinian Authority] leadership—whose political plan has blatantly failed and left us with national problems and catastrophes—to continue leading the [Palestinian] arena and claiming legitimacy, as though [this leadership] is a decree of fate that the Palestinians cannot escape. I believe that our Palestinian people everywhere, and especially in Gaza, have expressed their opinion firmly and clearly, and confirmed in blood and bodies that their only option is [to wage] resistance until liberation and return [are achieved]….
Therefore, we must launch a new stage in our national relations, rooted in the outcomes of the war, and rebuild the Palestinian domestic arena based on the values and equations established by this war. The most important measure in this context is to build the Palestinian political institutions and shape the Palestinian national enterprise to reflect the changes that have occurred in the recent decades and to faithfully represent our people’s aspirations, expectations, sacrifices and political experience—especially its disastrous experience with the Oslo [Accords].
‘Normalization would have eliminated the Palestinian cause‘
On the regional level, the Al-Aqsa Flood War [“Al-Aqsa Flood” is Hamas’s name for the Oct. 7 attack] has essential and strategic outcomes, the most important of which may be the neutralizing of the disastrous normalization plan that was certain to result in the elimination of the Palestinian cause. [The war] also dispelled the delusions of all those who thought that they could ask the [Zionist] entity to help them or defend them, [by] proving that [this entity] is too fragile and weak to [even] defend itself. This war built tall walls of blood and bodies between this region and its people on the one hand and the [Zionist] entity and the possibility of its integration in the region on the other, even if someone might make another attempt [to integrate it].
Also on the regional level, this blessed round [of fighting] has revived in the hearts of the peoples…the great hope that it is possible to liberate [Palestine], return [to it] and restore the holy places to the bosom of the [Islamic] nation…. Another point in the regional context is that Gaza has presented an extraordinary model of initiative and action, and even of achieving the impossible, despite the challenges and obstacles. [The people of the region are now saying]: If the besieged Gaza can do this, why shouldn’t we, across the large [Arab] homeland, do the same and emulate this experience?
This glorious war in Palestine will no doubt have a profound impact on the way the peoples [of the region] view themselves and their ability to act and achieve change, after the resistance [Hamas], its men and its actions have become emblems for every part of the nation, regardless of political orientation and geographical location. The [Islamic] nation is now looking for ways to become a direct partner in this war of independence, rather than just a passive supporter or helper.
Sadly, the performance of the official [Arab and Islamic regimes] in this deadly and cruel conflict does not even remotely [reflect] the feelings and expectations of the [Islamic] nation and its peoples, or the historic responsibility [of these regimes] towards the [Arabs’] central cause, the Palestinian cause.
On the international level, the breakthrough has been great and strategic…. First of all, the Palestinian cause—after the attempts of the Zionists and their allies to eliminate and bury it—has become the cause of millions of people worldwide…. Millions of people all over the world have discovered that they have been deceived regarding the narrative of the conflict. The Zionist myth collapsed with a resounding bang and the entire world directly witnessed the real character of its racist and fascist enterprise. Contrary to its claim that it represents the West and its values of freedom, democracy and human rights, it [has been exposed as] a merciless and murderous monster that, for decades, has played the victim while plundering [the resources of] humanity, under various guises….
On the official international level, the war is still in its initial stages, especially since those who established this loathsome [Zionist] enterprise, and built and sustained it for decades—as part of the shared interests of the Zionist movement and the imperialist forces—rushed to its rescue when they felt it was about to collapse under the blows of the resistance and was unable to respond to the strategic threat it was facing. Nevertheless, it is possible to at least discern some important changes in this context, for many countries have realized that they cannot erase the Palestinian cause and circumvent the Palestinian people, and that nobody will enjoy security, either in this region or beyond, without resolving this conflict and realizing the authentic rights of the Palestinians.
As for the enemy and its entity, this blessed war…has deepened the state of schism it has experienced in recent years on the political, social and ideological levels…. More importantly, this strategic blow has caused the [Israeli] public to lose faith in its political, security and military leadership and its ability to lead the country and provide security and protection to the citizens….
‘The Global South will take its proper place’
In this context, it is pertinent to mention the position of the resistance in the present stage, as expressed to the [various] countries and mediators: [Our] main goals are to [achieve] an immediate and complete halt to the aggression, the withdrawal of the occupation forces from all of the Gaza Strip and [the provision of] humanitarian aid to our people so as to end the humanitarian disaster caused by the aggression. Any proposal or plan that does not achieve these goals, immediately and as a preliminary step, will not be accepted and will not succeed.
Subsequently, a mid-term and long-term process may commence on the ground and on the political [level], which may start with a prisoner-exchange deal and continue with the lifting of the siege and the rebuilding of what the occupation has destroyed, as well as a reorganization of the Palestinian domestic [arena] based on new foundations that will restore the image of the authentic national enterprise. Ultimately, [this stage may even involve] a political process that will bring about the elimination of the Zionist occupation, the realization of the Palestinians’ right of self-determination, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and the return of the refugees in accordance with the relevant international resolutions.
Operation Al-Aqsa Flood provided an unusual moment and a strategic opportunity, not only for our [Palestinian] people but for our Arab and Islamic nation, to recover, take up the reins of cultural initiative and present a new model for handling all human affairs—after the West, its leadership and its mechanisms have failed to protect humanity from fascism and racism and their disastrous consequences. This is an opportunity we must not miss, for if we do, we may have to wait decades, God forbid, before another moment of this kind comes our way.
We must turn this war into a new springboard for our people and its just cause, and for our nation and its future, in light of the great international changes we are witnessing and the decline of the unipolar [world] order in favor of a multipolar one…. In this new [world] order the Global South, of which we are a part, will step forward to take the place that befits its peoples after centuries of imperialism, enslavement, exclusion and the plundering of its resources.