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AIC: Can you explain about yourself and your personal situation here in Hebron? 

HQ: My name is Hatem Qafisheh and I was born and live in Hebron. I have been elected by my people for the Legislative Counsel in January 2006

AIC:  You have been a political prisoner, recently released. Can you tell us about your situation right now, and why you were imprisoned?

HQ: In total, I have spent nineteen months in prison, at different periods of time. During the first Intifada and also in this second one. I was arrested by the Palestinian Authority for three and a half months after we refused the Wye Plantation Agreement during Arafat’s time. 

AIC:  Hamas took control of Gaza two months ago. What is the context in which Hamas decided to take a hold of Gaza’s security? 

HQ: First of all, I want to emphasize the geographical unity that we should have for Gaza and the West Bank. According to what happened in Gaza, in my opinion, the Palestinian case needs a serious discussion and investigation to see what happened during the clashes two months ago. I am now calling all the Arabs from outside to engage in such investigation to see who is wrong or right. The responsibility falls on the occupation: the Israelis needs Hamas to control Gaza and be weak, and Fatah to control the West Bank and be very weak also. This is against the Palestinians in general.

I make a call now to all the parties in Palestine to control the situation and to start an investigation to find out what really happened in Gaza.

AIC:  Are you saying that Hamas had to take control of the situation in Gaza because the Palestinian Authority could not do it and Fatah was too weak?

HQ: What happened in Gaza was due to security considerations. Before the clashes and before the current problems, Gaza was in a very difficult security situation. All the citizens lived in a very problematic situation. Most of the Palestinians did not agree to solve the problem in a military way. While this was happening, I was still in prison, but many inmates wrote letters and made comments stating that they did not want violence and made many calls for everyone to solve the problem by means of dialogue. Now, it is clearer than ever, that the only way to keep the unity of the Palestinian people is to sit at the table and talk

AIC:  The international media called this a coup d’etat. In your words, what happened exactly, and how would you define this?

HQ: We know that the media outside, in general, did not respect the results of the [Palestinian] elections. By our experience, we have seen that the media is not objective, and they stand with Israel and against us. For example, when all the conventions of international law gave the right for people under occupation to resist, the media from outside started calling us terrorists. About the fact that they called this a coup d’etat, it makes no sense. Hamas has [57] percent of legislative members, who were elected in free and democratic elections. How can you take over what is already yours?

AIC:  So do you think that we will see the same violence that we saw in Gaza, in the West Bank? What are the chances of something like this happening in this side of the Territories?

HQ: What happened in Gaza will not happen again, because there are many people who want dialogue and negotiation. In the West Bank, we are calling our people not to take actions against what happened. Our situation in the West Bank is not so good, because we have a lot of political prisoner’s now and many organizations have been damaged. Also we are suffering a lot of attacks in the municipalities that belong to Hamas.

For example, the other day they attacked a child in a school, because he was writing Islamic things on the wall. They told this child that if he was to do that again or tell his family, they would arrest him again.

I personally have met many security officers and important people in Hebron, and I have asked them not to take any actions, so as not to escalate the violence.

AIC:  Is there any possibility that the clashes reproduce again in Gaza?

HQ: I hope we will not see this situation anymore, “inshalla,” and we are putting all our efforts not to return to it. Unfortunately, with what is going on, all the arrests and the hostility, this is a bad signal, especially in the West Bank. I have tried to talk with Hamas’ soldiers and people not to reply to this provocations, because it can only lead to make the situation worst.

AIC: What is your opinion about the fact that Abbas decided to annul the Unity Government?

HQ: A president has the right to stop any government, this right is guaranteed in the, Palestinian basic law, but all of us know that what happened is a political decision, not if it is something legal or illegal, the discussion is not here.

We see how so many people are refusing the emergency government. As a Legislative Council Member, I believe that the decision taken by Abbas was not discussed seriously. The matter here is that we need as Palestinians a consensus between the political parties and the organizations that will lead us to a real unity.

I think what Abbas did was a very bad decision.

AIC: Do you believe that what happened in Gaza will give Israel an excuse to enter?

HQ: Sure, Israel will use any problems inside Palestinian, internal or external. We saw how Israel started doing attacks in some parts of Gaza, killing tenths of people, and injuring many more Israel for sure will always take advantage of our differences or our mistakes.

AIC: Talking about Israel. How will the Hamas demonstration of force affect the so-called peace process? Under what terms and conditions is Hamas willing to talk peace with Israel?

HQ: I am not going to talk about new things now. As Sheikh Ahmed Yassin—who was murdered by the Israelis and was the founder of Hamas—stated, Hamas is ready to make a long-term cease-fire and at the same time to go ahead in a political process based on giving the Palestinians their rights. This is not new, as I said, and we made a statement about this. I can talk about peace like this, if they are willing to give Palestinians the West Bank and Gaza and make a state.

AIC: You occupy a seat on the Palestinian Legislative Council for Hamas. Since the clashes in Gaza, do you fear any reprisal, or any attack from Fatah or the Israelis?

HQ: We have other Hamas legislative members who were arrested from the first day of the fighting. More than this, our offices in Hebron are closed; I have to do all the meetings in my house. Before this, they had already confiscated all the computers and documents from the offices. Five hundred meters away from here, there is an Israeli  military base, any second they can come in and arrest me. I am a Legislative Council Member, but I have no security at all, and we know that when Israelis want to implement heir policies, they do not ask anyone.

AIC: Can you see the formation of a new unity government anywhere in the near future?

HQ : No, I don't see it, but we are all working towards it. I need to see in which direction Abbas is going.