Raed Hadar
18
What is your opinion of previous peace attempts, and what is the importance of the role of the people? Why don't you just leave it to the politicians to solve the conflict?
As a group we aren't involved in politics. We are not political negotiators who may discuss putting an end to the conflict. Our role is to put pressure on the Israeli and Palestinian governments and try to influence Israeli and Palestinian society. We have certain tools that can be put to use to shorten the current cycle of violence. When negotiations began between the PA and Israel they were held under international law. Since then successive Israeli governments, especially right wing ones, weren't interested in the continuation of negotiations and constantly pushed events towards a dead end. Under the leadership of Abu Ammar may he rest in peace, Palestinians believed in negotiations and a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. The Israelis constantly laid obstacles in the way of negotiations because they weren't interested in reaching a solution that would include a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. This was the direct reason for the failure of negotiations over the past years. We work within Israeli society in order to influence it in a way that will hopefully make it elect a government that believes in negotiations and the creation of an independent Palestinian state according to international law while removing the settlements and accepting Jerusalem as its capital. This is our role; we are not negotiators and won't get involved in the political details of the talks. We are fighters who have emerged from the battlefield and are trying to convince people of the different approach we have adopted.