Hamas Official to Asharq Al-Awsat: We Briefed Russia on Causes Behind Oct. 7 Attack

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov with Hamas leaders Musa Abu Marzouk and Bassem Naim in Moscow (Reuters)
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov with Hamas leaders Musa Abu Marzouk and Bassem Naim in Moscow (Reuters)
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Hamas Official to Asharq Al-Awsat: We Briefed Russia on Causes Behind Oct. 7 Attack

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov with Hamas leaders Musa Abu Marzouk and Bassem Naim in Moscow (Reuters)
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov with Hamas leaders Musa Abu Marzouk and Bassem Naim in Moscow (Reuters)

Hamas is ready to discuss a deal to release civilian prisoners, said politburo member Moussa Abu Marzouk.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Abu Marzouk praised Moscow's positions, saying that active Russian diplomacy "is working to put an end to Israeli crimes."

Abu Marzouk, leading the group's delegation during the Moscow visit, asserted that the Hamas movement appreciates the Russian just and humane position, especially that of President Vladimir Putin.

He lauded the Russian efforts and diplomacy in working to put an end to the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people, adding that Russia is "a friendly country."

The delegation briefed Russian officials on the circumstances that led to the October 7 attack and presented the movement's vision of the current events and mechanisms for dealing with them.

They emphasized the right of the Palestinian people to resist the Israeli occupation.

- "The prisoners are our guests."

The Palestinian official said that since day one, Hamas presented its vision for the civilian prisoners, asserting that the group wants to release all civilian detainees and foreigners who do not hold Israeli citizenship.

During the interview, he said: "The prisoners are our guests" until the appropriate conditions are available for their release, asserting that the severe Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip complicates the process.

The prisoners' issue was also discussed in Moscow during the group's meetings with Russian officials, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry official.

Abu Marzouk explained that after the Israeli army's Gaza division fell, hundreds of citizens and dozens of fighters from various Palestinian factions entered the occupied territories and arrested dozens, most of them civilians.

He indicated that the group needs some time to search, classify them, and release them.

However, it can't be done because of the intense Israeli bombing, as the destructive force of the Israeli bombs that fell on Gaza during the 20 days is equivalent to the nuclear bomb that struck Hiroshima.

- A crushing defeat

The Hamas official hoped Russia and other countries would be successful in their efforts to stop the war, asserting that the Israeli threat to launch a ground invasion would fail.

The Israeli army was subjected to a crushing defeat, and its strongest military division fell within five hours by no more than 1,500 fighters aiming to expel the occupation, said the official.

He indicated that the Israeli enemy is mobilizing tens of thousands of soldiers with the support of the US and the West.

Abu Marzouk told Asharq Al-Awsat that Washington sent its largest aircraft carrier, with the second on its way, and has sent nearly two thousand soldiers from the special forces.

The Western countries are mobilizing forces in countries in the eastern Mediterranean, said the Hamas official, stressing that this Western-backed aggression is doomed to defeat and the morale of the resistance fighters is high.

- Russian role

Meanwhile, Hamas politburo member Hossam Badran said that Russia is capable of playing an essential role in ending the war and delivering aid to the Gaza Strip.

Badran said Hamas appreciates Russia's role at the international level, especially its use of veto power in response to the US position, which supports the occupation endlessly.

He stressed that Russia can play a more significant role in ending the aggression against the people in Gaza and exert international pressure to deliver urgent aid to the Strip.

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Russia discussed, during a meeting with a leading Hamas delegation in Moscow, releasing foreign hostages and evacuating Russian citizens from the Gaza Strip.

The official Novosti news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry official as saying, "Contacts were held with him in continuation of the Russian line on the immediate release of foreign hostages in the Gaza Strip. Issues related to ensuring the evacuation of Russian and other foreign citizens from the territory of the Palestinian enclave were also discussed."

- Palestinian state

The meeting affirmed Russia's firm position in support of implementing the well-known resolutions issued by the international community, including the relevant Security Council resolutions, which stipulate the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state within the 1967 borders that includes its occupied territories with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Hamas delegation held talks behind closed doors with Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, and Washington criticized the visit, saying it was not the time to provide support to Hamas.



Hochstein to Asharq Al-Awsat: Land Border Demarcation between Lebanon, Israel ‘is Within Reach’

AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
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Hochstein to Asharq Al-Awsat: Land Border Demarcation between Lebanon, Israel ‘is Within Reach’

AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon

The former US special envoy, Amos Hochstein, said the maritime border agreement struck between Lebanon and Israel in 2022 and the ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hezbollah at the end of last year show that a land border demarcation “is within reach.”

“We can get to a deal but there has to be political willingness,” he said.

“The agreement of the maritime boundary was unique because we’d been trying to work on it for over 10 years,” Hochstein told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“I understood that a simple diplomatic push for a line was not going to work. It had to be a more complicated and comprehensive agreement. And there was a real threat that people didn’t realize that if we didn’t reach an agreement we would have ended up in a conflict - in a hot conflict - or war over resources.”

He said there is a possibility to reach a Lebanese-Israeli land border agreement because there’s a “provision that mandated the beginning of talks on the land boundary.”

“I believe with concerted effort they can be done quickly,” he said, adding: “It is within reach.”

Hochstein described communication with Hezbollah as “complicated,” saying “I never had only one interlocutor with Hezbollah .... and the first step is to do shuttle diplomacy between Lebanon, Lebanon and Lebanon, and then you had to go to Israel and do shuttle diplomacy between the different factions” there.

“The reality of today and the reality of 2022 are different. Hezbollah had a lock on the political system in Lebanon in the way it doesn’t today.”

North of Litani

The 2024 ceasefire agreement requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon and for the Lebanese army to take full operational control of the south Litani region, all the way up to the border. It requires Hezbollah to demilitarize and move further north of the Litani region, he said.

“I don’t want to get into the details of other violations,” he said, but stated that the ceasefire works if both conditions are met.

Lebanon’s opportunity

“Lebanon can rewrite its future ... but it has to be a fundamental change,” he said.

“There is so much potential in Lebanon and if you can bring back opportunity and jobs - and through economic and legal reforms in the country - I think that the future is very bright,” Hochstein told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Hezbollah is not trying to control the politics and remember that Hezbollah is just an arm of Iran” which “should not be imposing its political will in Lebanon, Israel should not be imposing its military will in Lebanon, Syria should not. No one should. This a moment for Lebanon to make decisions for itself,” he added.