GAZA CITY, July 5: The Hamas on Tuesday warned the Palestinian Authority it would resist any attempts to disarm its militants after snubbing an offer to serve in a national unity government.

The architect of most anti-Israeli attacks during the nearly five-year Palestinian uprising, Hamas has hailed Israel’s withdrawal next month from the occupied Gaza Strip as the direct result of its resistance.

“We will not allow anyone to disarm us,” Mahmud Zahar, Hamas leader in its Gaza stronghold, said in an interview with Palestinian news agency Ramattan.

“Hamas will not remain with its arms folded in Gaza if the West Bank is attacked,” he added, warning that militants would not hesitate but retaliate against any future Israeli attacks in the occupied territory.

“Our national cause is not connected to the West Bank, Gaza or even Jerusalem. Our cause in Hamas is Palestine, the whole of Palestine.”

Israel insists that all armed Palestinian groups be disarmed as a precursor to any further progress in the peace process with the Palestinian Authority.

Zahar heavily criticized the Palestinian Authority and its president Mahmud Abbas for apparently refusing to involve Hamas in preparations for the historic pullout and for delaying parliamentary elections once scheduled for July.

His comments were published just days before Mr Abbas is to press home the prospect of a national unity government with the exiled heads of Palestinian factions based in Damascus, including Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal.

“After this experience, the confidence is no longer there,” Mr Zahar said.

The Palestinian Authority and Fatah, Mr Abbas’s government-dominant party, ‘should know that they’re playing a dangerous game’ for not coordinating the withdrawal with other factions, Mr Zahar was quoted as saying.

“The land was liberated by resistance, not by negotiations, and we will not allow anyone to steal the achievements of the Palestinian people,” Mr Zahar said.—AFP