Iran warns Hamas against any ‘compromise’ with Israel

AFP reports: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned Palestinian movement Hamas against any “compromise” in its fight against Tehran’s nemesis Israel, his official website reported.

“Always be wary of infiltration by compromisers in a resistance organisation, which will gradually weaken it,” Khamenei told the visiting Hamas Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniya, according to the leader.ir website.

“We have no doubt about your resistance and that of many of your brothers, and the people only have this expectation of you,” said Khamenei, reaffirming that Iran “will always be alongside the Palestinian resistance”.

Khamenei’s comments come as divisions within Hamas have emerged on a possible overhaul of the organisation’s strategy. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal signed an agreement with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas earlier this month placing Abbas at the head of an interim government charged with organising elections later this year.

The agreement struck by Meshaal’s foreign-based leadership with Abbas’ Fatah faction has run into serious opposition from Hamas members inside the Gaza Strip, which the movement has controlled since ousting the president’s loyalists in 2007.

In November, Meshaal called for “peaceful popular resistance,” which would represent a shift in the movement away from armed struggle.

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