Hamas does not want another war with Israel, the Islamic terrorist group's deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzouk said in an interview Thursday, but he suggested more fighting is inevitable unless a deal is reached on ending seven years of Israeli-Egyptian border closures of Hamas-ruled Gaza. Such a deal remains elusive, in part because Hamas refuses to disarm -- a key Israeli condition for lifting the blockade. Hamas also remains locked in bitter disputes with its main rival, the Fatah movement led by Western-backed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whom the international community views as a central guarantor of any new arrangement for Gaza. Three weeks after the end of the latest Israel-Hamas conflict, the third in five years, it is still unclear when Egyptian-mediated talks between Israel, Hamas and Abbas on Gaza's future will be held. In the meantime, Israel says it has agreed to allow larger amounts of construction material into Gaza under United Nations supervision to begin reconstruction, though details are sketchy. Israel says tight supervision is needed to prevent Hamas from diverting cement and steel for military use. Abu Marzouk insisted Thursday that Hamas won the war, despite the apparent military setbacks. He said his group's popularity among Palestinians has increased and that it would likely defeat Abbas and his Fatah movement if elections were held today. Early this month, a survey conducted by a prominent West Bank pollster found a significant increase in support for Hamas after the war. Abu Marzouk warned that failure to negotiate a new Gaza deal to lift the blockade would "lead to another war." "We don't want that, and the Israelis, I guess, [wouldn't] like to see that again," he said. Abu Marzouk, exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal's deputy, said the people of Gaza lived in a difficult situation before the war as a result of the blockade. "We can't put the Palestinians after the war in the same situation," said Abu Marzouk, who has lived in Egypt for the past three years but has visited Gaza several times. "They [the Israelis] have to change their policy." The international community expects Abbas to play a key role in any new arrangement for Gaza, including deploying his forces at Gaza's border crossings, but he won't be able to do so if he can't reach an agreement with Hamas on the new government. At issue is how much authority Hamas is willing to cede to Abbas, particularly over Gaza's security forces. Hamas has balked at the idea, and little seems to have changed since the war. On Thursday, both sides warned they had other options if a unity deal falls through. Azzam al-Ahmed, a senior Fatah negotiator, said Hamas must abide by decisions of the unity government, which should assume control over Gazan security forces. "Hamas cannot take Gaza to war next time," he said. In Gaza, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar said Fatah failed to consult Hamas when it signed interim peace deals with Israel two decades ago. He added that any technocratic government should serve no longer than six months. "Then we will think about alternatives because we cannot let the Palestinian people be subjected to those who can't deliver any achievements," he said. Meanwhile, former Fatah strongman Marwan Barghouti, who is serving multiple life sentences in Israeli prison for his role in dozens of deadly terrorist attacks, said Thursday that the Gaza war was a victory for Palestinians, and the focus must now shift to a boycott that makes Israel's "occupation of the West Bank" too costly to bear. In answers to questions submitted by Reuters via the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, Barghouti urged more confrontations with Israel, setting out a strategy sharply at odds with the more cautious approach advocated by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. "The Palestinians must make the price of the occupation dear on Israel," Barghouti said. "Freedom in Palestine will not be realized until the launching of a broader resistance associated with a broader political, economic and security boycott of the occupation." Barghouti, 55, remains a leading figure in the secular Fatah movement and is often mentioned as a potential future leader despite being behind bars. He rose to prominence as an instigator of the first and second intifadas against Israel. Even from prison, his views resonate with some sectors of the Palestinian public, and he has support from a variety of factions, not just Fatah. That cross-party appeal has fueled hopes that he might be capable of uniting Palestinians under one banner, overcoming the differences that have sharpened since Hamas won elections in 2006 and led to open conflict with Fatah in Gaza in 2007. Without mentioning Hamas, he praised the 50-day war it fought against Israel, calling it a victory for all Palestinians despite the staggering toll it had taken on the Gaza Strip. "We consider that the battle represents a victory for the resistance," he said. "[It] proved that Israel cannot and does not have the ability to resolve the conflict by military force, and that the only way to end the conflict is to end the occupation in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967." With Abbas nearing 80 and not expected to run in any future Palestinian elections, Barghouti's comments were particularly notable in setting out a very different vision of how relations with Israel should be tackled. Abbas has for years sought a negotiated solution to create an independent Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, while also pushing ahead with Palestinian membership of international bodies. Despite limited progress in peace talks, he has advocated close security coordination between Palestinian and Israeli security forces. Barghouti, however, backs calls by Palestinian civil society groups and global activists for a boycott of Israel's economy as part of what is known as the BDS movement. "The promotion of a campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the occupation [was]," Barghouti said, "a prelude to isolating it internationally and putting international sanctions on it." While Abbas has left open the possibility of resuming peace talks with Israel, despite the collapse of the last round after nearly a year of negotiations, Barghouti said it was pointless to go on trying to reach peace with Israel. "Negotiations with Israel failed for over 20 years in achieving freedom, return [of refugees] and independence," he said. "I do not see that Israel is ready for real peace, but wants to use fruitless negotiations to continue its occupation and settlement and to ease its international isolation."
