The final Knowledge Acquisition Workshop of Palestinian Studies in the current semester was held at Iran Hall of the Faculty of World Studies on Saturday, May 20, 2017. Dr. Khaled Ghodomi, Representative of Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Tehran, spoke at the workshop that was held by the Department of Western Asia and North African Studies.
Dividing the role of Hamas in Palestinian Islamic resistance into five categories, Khaled Ghodomi asserted the following points in his speech:
- The necessity of achieving a comprehensive capacity and capability in resistance against Israeli occupation;
- The necessity of devising a proper balance between idealism and realism in practice;
- Trying to achieve a reasonable and practical resistance and avoiding uninformed and blind resistance;
- Armed resistance against occupation is the main method of Palestinian liberation and Hamas does not see a reason to deny its methods;
- Armed resistance does not negate or violate other forms of resistance against Israel;
- Hamas armed operations against Israel are limited to the Palestinian mainland;
- Resistance is a vast and comprehensive concept which includes but is not limited to armed operations;
- Education is a critical aspect of Hamas resistance and the culture of resistance at large;
- Hamas highly values the Islamic and Arab aspects of Palestinian conflict;
- Hamas achievements constitute various domains, one of which is the liberation of Palestinian captives;
- Hamas encounters critical challenges at the moment that include conflicts and wars among Islamic states in the region and the issue of arm supplies in order to continue resistance against Israel.
Dr. Ghodomi concluded his speech by talking about the situation of the Palestinian captives after more than thirty days of hunger strike. Answering the questions by the audience, he defended Hamas stance in devising a balanced relationship with Islamic states and avoiding interference with their internal affairs to conclude that Hamas leaving Syria was an outcome of this stance. Representative of Islamic Resistance Movement argued that Palestinians’ financial requirements in Gaza is one of the influential factors in Hamas foreign relations.
