The Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, can never give up any feet of Palestinian land "because it is an Islamic endowment," a Hamas hard-liner minister said on Monday.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Fathi Hammad, the interior minister, added that creating a Palestinian statehood alongside Israel "was only a speech to the media and is not realistic because the Zionist enemy can depart from the occupied Palestinian land only by resistance."

Though Hamas has recently accepted the creation of the Palestinian statehood on the territories Israel occupied in 1967, Hammad reiterated that Hamas can never drop any feet of the historical land of Palestine because it is an Islamic endowment.

Hammad, whose government holds sway only in the Gaza Strip, attacked the West Bank-based Palestinian National Authority (PNA) for trying to revive peace talks with Israel and exchanging security liaison.

The PNA leaders, affiliated with Hamas' bitter political rival Fatah movement, "speeding up their end the more they stick to the Zionist enemy," Hammad said. Fatah, run by president Mahmoud Abbas, "deals with the Jews as if they were brothers and beloved people."

Unfair conflict

Hammad, who was appointed in May, four months after Israel killed his predecessor Said Siam, said there is an imbalance in the confrontation between Israel and the armed Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip.

To overcome that inequity, Hammad said the militant factions " lean on spiritual and ideological sides to maintain the Palestinian rights and achieve victory."

Israel launched a three-week tough offensive in Gaza and ended it on Jan. 18, this year, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians, most of them are civilians. Israel said the operation mainly targeted Hamas to stop rockets from being fired into its territories.

But Hammad said that the factions "are developing their capabilities in preparation for a new round of confrontation" with Israel. He explained that the armed groups focus on guerrilla fighting, developing home-made rockets and digging underground tunnels in their training for the possible warfare.

No Qaida

The Hamas minister, who stresses that his government has restored order and security to Gaza, denied that fundamentalist Islamic groups have started working in the impoverished coastal Strip.

"There is no Qaida or anything else in Gaza; there are only a few people who used the modern communication means to create a party or a movement," Hammad said, referring to reports that a Gaza-based Salafi group was planning a major attack to declare support for Osama Bin Laden.

He defended Hamas' popularity, saying it is dominant and does not leave a vacuum for the appearance of such other groups. The Islamic movement, sworn to Israel's destruction, "is deep-rooted in the land and in every Palestinian house."

Shalit's talks

Since hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in early April, Egyptian-mediated talks to exchange prisoners between Hamas and Israel have completely stopped, according to Hammad.

Hamas has been holding Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier, for three years and demands Israel to free more than 1,000 Arab and Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Sergeant.

"The talks have not seen any movement since Netanyahu was sworn in but I think they may resume during the upcoming two weeks," Hammad said.

If Hamas and Fatah reached a reconciliation, Egypt would be " ready to work thoroughly on achieving a prisoner exchange," Hammad said, adding that the long time the Egyptian-brokered national Palestinian dialogue are taking "have left Shalit's case without any movement forward."

He accused Israel of foiling all attempts to reach a deal by insisting to exile some of the prisoners outside the Palestinian territories.

Unity deal at Abbas' court

In June 2007, Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces and seized control of Gaza, widening political separation with the Fatah-ruled West Bank and drawing an Israeli blockade on the enclave.

Since February, Egypt has been trying to broker a reconciliation pact between Hamas and Fatah to form a unity government, reform the security services and holding elections early next year to boost the deal.

Hammad called on Fatah to ease the Egyptian efforts "by dropping the condition that the unity government must recognize Israel." He also urged Fatah to release all Hamas members in the West Bank. The two movements have been cracking down against their political opponents in Gaza and in the West Bank.

But Hammad asserted that his security forces "don't target Fatah in Gaza though it hunts down groups that collect information for Ramallah and Israel" under the security liaison between the PNA and the Jewish state.

Hammad revealed that Hamas "is ready to free all Fatah activists who are either held for criminal act or security matter in the Gaza Strip" to pave the way for reaching a deal. "The ball is now in Fatah and Abbas's court."

(Xinhua News Agency July 14, 2009)