Arab Response to the Conflict

January 21, 2009

Hamas Could Have Avoided Attacks

“We talked to them and we told them ‘please, we ask you, do not end the truce. Let the truce continue and not stop,’ so that we could have avoided what happened,”

—Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo, December 28, 2008

Hamas Threatens to Harm Livni

“We will reach that Zionist in her house, inside the Knesset [Parliament] compound. We will also get to the traitors in the Muqata compound in Ramallah and to all those in the Arab world that had a hand in the scheme against us. We will hunt Barak down and reach all of them.”

“Today we are sending a message through the sea of blood that was spilled here and we will not surrender and we will defeat the enemy. From here, from within the proud Strip, we say to all our enemies: We will get to you, defeat you, and hunt you down one by one.”

“We will reach the Zionist leaders in their homes, we will get to you, the collaborators in the Muqata in Ramallah, and we will settle the score with you one by one.” He went on to say, “The heroes in the Strip will continue to fight and prove the youth and fighters of Islam and the Palestinian organizations cannot be defeated.”

—Fathi Hamad, Hamas figure in the northern Gaza Strip, Ynetnews.com, December 28, 2008

Syria Suspends Indirect Peace Talks with Israel

“Israel’s aggression closes all the doors to any move toward a settlement in the region.”

—Unidentified Syrian government official, December 29, 2008, Ynetnews.com

Iran Orders Muslims to Defend Palestinians

“All Palestinian combatants and all the Islamic world’s pious people are obliged to defend the defenseless women, children, and people in Gaza in any way possible. Whoever is killed in this legitimate defense is considered a martyr.”