GAZA (Dispatches) – Hamas has condemned a move by Britain towards banning the Palestinian resistance movement as a ‘terrorist organization’ which could see supporters of the movement face up to 14 years in prison.
Home Secretary Priti Patel, who will push for the ban in Parliament next week, argued on Friday that it was not possible to distinguish between Hamas’s political and military wings. She called Hamas “fundamentally and rabidly anti-Semitic”, adding the proscription was required to protect the Zionist regime.
Hamas responded in a statement, saying: “Instead of apologizing and correcting its historical sin against the Palestinian people … [Britain] supports the aggressors at the expense of the victims.”
That comment referred to the Balfour Declaration and British Mandate, which it said handed “Palestinian lands to the Zionist movement”.
“Resisting occupation, by all available means, including armed resistance, is a right guaranteed by international law to people under occupation,” added the statement.
The resistance movement called on its supporters to condemn the UK’s move, as it described the Zionist occupation of Palestinian lands, forcible displacement of Palestinians, the demolition of their homes, and the siege of more than two million people in Gaza Strip, as “terrorism”.
Patel, who is on a trip to Washington, DC, claimed her move was “based upon a wide range of intelligence, information and also links to terrorism”.
In 2017, Patel was forced to resign as Britain’s international development secretary after she failed to disclose meetings with senior Zionist officials during a private holiday trip to the occupied territory.
She met then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-opposition leader Yair Lapid.
Founded in 1987, Hamas is against the Zionist regime’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Based in Gaza, Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, defeating its nationalist rival Fatah. It seized control of Gaza the following year.
An 11-day assault by the Zionist regime on Gaza in May this year killed at least 250 Palestinians, including 66 children.