The Terror Priority List: Mashaal Reveals Hamas’s Goals for the Post-War Era

Speaking by video link to a pro-Palestinian Arab conference in Istanbul, Mashaal declared that the time has come for the "ummah," or the Islamic nation, to commit to the liberation of Jerusalem as the banner and symbol of freeing Palestine, to cleansing the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and to reclaiming Islamic and Christian holy sites.

Mashaal pointed to the global anti-Israel sentiment that has surged since the Hamas October 7, 2023, massacre, claiming that it created opportunities "to remove this entity (Israel) from our homeland and exclude it from the international stage."

Refusal to Disarm

The terror chief denounced US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan, which includes a core requirement for Hamas to surrender its weapons. Mashaal asserted that the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves requires protecting the "resistance project and its weapons."

He stated emphatically, "The resistance and its weapons are the ummah’s honour and pride. A thousand statements are not worth a single projectile of iron."

Mashaal also rejected "all forms of guardianship, mandate and re-occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and all of Palestine," dismissing another key element of the US peace plan that was endorsed by the UN Security Council on November 17. That resolution mandated that Washington and its partners establish an International Stabilization Force and a Board of Peace to serve as Gaza’s transitional authority.

"This is our land, our homeland, this is our destiny and we are a people who do not break," Mashaal stated, adding, "Two years of war have passed, and all the weapons that came to the Zionist entity from all corners of the world have failed to impose their will on our people. This is Gaza and this is the great Palestine, the one that drives out invaders."

Post-War Priorities

Mashaal outlined Hamas’s non-negotiable post-war priorities. These goals include preventing the "Judaization" of Judea and Samaria, securing the freedom of terrorists imprisoned by Israel, building Arab unity against Israel, "pursuing" Israeli leaders globally, and widely spreading anti-Israel sentiment across academia, media, and political spheres.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry responded to the speech by stating that Hamas was "making a mockery of President Trump’s peace plan," emphasizing that Mashaal’s remarks were in "direct contradiction of the core terms of the peace plan itself," signaling a complete diplomatic stalemate.