Hanieh Declares Victory over "Israeli" Occupation Army

Source: AFP, 19-01-2009
 
Senior Hamas leader Ismail Hanieh said the Gaza "war" amounted to a "great victory" for the Palestinians, in a televised speech on Sunday.
"God has granted us a great victory, not for one faction, or party, or area, but for our entire people," he added.

"We have stopped the aggression, and the enemy has failed to achieve any of its goals," Hanieh concluded.
Senior Hamas official Ismail Hanieh explains why the "Israeli" offensive into Gaza was a failure for Tel Aviv and a victory for Palestinians.
In a televised speech broadcast on Hamas television on Sunday, Ismail Hanieh said Tel Aviv had failed to achieve its goals in its war on Gazans, suggesting that it was therefore the Palestinians who were victorious for having been able to counter the "Israeli" aggression.

"God has granted us a great victory, not for one faction, or party, or area, but for our entire people," Hanieh said.
The democratically-elected Palestinian leader added, "Despite all the wounds, our people didn't surrender, but demonstrated a legendary perseverance."

"We have stopped the aggression and the enemy has failed to achieve any of its goals."
"We are stressing the need for the ‘Israeli' army withdrawal from the [Gaza] Strip -- complete and unconditional withdrawal, and the opening of the crossings, and ending the siege," he continued.

Hamas announced an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on Sunday and gave "Israel", which had already declared a unilateral truce, one week to pull its troops out of the territory following the war that lasted over three weeks.
Tel Aviv waged "all-out war" against the Gaza Strip on December 27, in what it described as a bid to stop the Palestinian retaliatory rocket attacks on "Israeli" towns and to topple the democratically-elected Hamas government.

"Israeli" air, ground and naval operations left at least 1,300 Palestinians dead, including 411 children, and 6,000 others wounded in the besieged territory.
Outgoing "Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said after a security cabinet meeting on Saturday that "Israel" had "won", claiming that the "Israeli" military objectives were "obtained in full".
Hamas was "surprised and badly beaten", Olmert claimed.

The "Israeli" media, however, is of a different view. According to "Israeli" daily Ha'aretz, Tel Aviv declared victory without succeeding to halt rocket fire from Gaza and without returning captured "Israeli" soldier Gilad Shalit.
Debkafile has also cited "security sources" as revealing that the "Israeli" military has leveled strong criticism at Tel Aviv for ending the war without achieving the primary goals sought by the government.

Debkafile is widely believed to have links with "Israeli" military and intelligence sources.
Some officials in Tel Aviv had originally described toppling the democratically-elected ruler of the strip, Hamas, as their objective in the operations. Other officials later downgraded "Israeli" objectives, saying they only seek to weaken the Hamas movement and end rocket attacks on their communities.
It remains unclear which goal the "Israelis" have managed to reach.