Salah Hamouri, the terrorist who was deported to France this week by order of outgoing Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, pledged to continue fighting against Israel in the international arena.
Hamouri is a French citizen and permanent resident of Israel. He has been active for many years in the ranks of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.
During this time, he organized, incited and planned to carry out terrorist attacks on his own initiative and on behalf of the organization against citizens and prominent figures in Israel, including a plot to assassinate Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
In his first interview after his deportation with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper, Hamouri outlined his future plans, saying, "The certain thing about me is that I have moved to a new phase of resistance in dealing with the occupation."
"I left the front of the confrontation with the occupation in the homeland, but I will be in a position where I can support the fight of my people and fight the occupation in the external arena, an arena that is no less important than the internal arena, and therefore it is necessary to act in it in order to lay siege to the occupation everywhere."
Hamouri criticized both the Palestinian Authority's policy and France’s policy in relation to the decision to deport him. "The Palestinian position was content with condemnation, while the French are accomplices and conspirators, even though I am considered a French citizen and it would have been more correct for the French government to put pressure on the occupation to prevent my deportation."
"Unfortunately, the official Palestinian position did not go beyond condemnation, and the official leadership was required to take out the remaining tools of pressure in its arsenal against the occupation because the issue is not about to Salah Hamouri the man, but it is a policy that, if it is implemented through Salah the man, then our people will be subject to this policy and its victim. Therefore, what is required from the Palestinian Authority is an official position that will be translated on the ground by a set of decisions that will put pressure on the occupation," he claimed.
On the policy of outgoing Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, Hamouri said, "We are used to this occupation, and Ayelet Shaked is a cornerstone of it, and this occupation before every election campaign lives on the blood of the Palestinians. Therefore, Shaked is trying, through the Salah Hamouri case, to receive the sympathy of the extreme right and to win its votes in order to preserve her political future, and this is part of the racist occupation policy towards the Arab residents of Jerusalem and towards our people in general."
He urged the Palestinian Arab people to continue the path of resistance, saying, "My message to the Palestinian people is that no one in the universe can uproot Palestine from our hearts or minds. It exists as long as we breathe, and we will continue to fight and resist this occupation as much as we can, because we must be the generation of liberation to free our future generations from the burden of this occupation."