Rock attack (illustrative)
Rock attack (illustrative)Israel news photo: Flash 90

The Secretary of the Hamas government in Gaza, Abd el-Salam Siam, said Sunday in a press release marking 26 years since the outbreak of the First Intifada that the Gaza government supports all forms of the struggle against "Israeli occupation," including popular struggle, struggle through peaceful methods and armed struggle.

Siam said that the Palestinian people can develop new tactics in the struggle, and called on the Palestinian people to learn from the experience of the 'rock intifada' and unite its ranks. He called the Arab and Islamic world to take responsibility towards the Palestinian problem despite the numerous problems in the region.

Hamas issued a statement to mark the outbreak of the First Intifada, in which it stated that "the crimes of the Occupation will only add power to the struggle, to the faith and the determination to walk in the path of struggle as a strategy that can fulfill the aspirations of the Palestinian people to liberation and return (of refugees)."

Hamas also emphasized that "the Palestinian people clings to every grain of its land and would never agree to accords or solutions that would relinquish the national rights and basic principles, and the sacred places, and deny the blood of the martyrs and the sacrifices of prisoners, in their souls and their lives, for the sake of Palestine from the sea to the river."