Mick Hartley

Former Palestinian ambassador to India Osama Al-Ali: Hamas must release all Israeli hostages to save what's left Of Gaza.

"The leaders of Hamas are in Qatar, not Palestine. When they are in Palestine, then they will have the right to speak. They have no right to speak from Qatar, Turkey, Iran, or the Devil knows where. […]

"I believe, suggest, and demand that Hamas releases the 150 prisoners in its custody for free. Enough! Hamas should do this to protect what is left of Gaza and its people. If Israel continues to kill 100 people every day in order to release two [hostages], it will ultimately release them all while massacring all of Gaza. This will be a great loss. I suggest that Hamas hands the prisoners over to Egypt or Qatar – the good mediators out there – and say to Egypt and Qatar: 'These prisoners are your responsibility now, and you deal with Israel, and whatever you decide, we will accept.' This is what Hamas should do. […]

"The truth is that Hamas carried out a terrible and murderous coup, which was unparalleled in the history of Palestine. Nevertheless, we forgave them, kept silent, and referred to it as a 'split' rather than a coup. We did all this and made all these concessions, in order to reconcile… We begged them for reconciliation, because we knew that they would let Gaza go to hell, and, indeed, this is what they have done. […]

"Therefore, Hamas must become reasonable. For their own good, they should transfer the 150 or 160 [hostages] to Qatar and Egypt, and tell Qatar and Egypt to do as they see fit. This is how they will save themselves. But the [Hamas leaders] had better not return to Gaza, because the people of Gaza will slaughter them."