31 October 1999

Statement on Mauritania’s promotion of  
full diplomatic ties with the Zionist Regime

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has observed with extreme disapproval and annoyance the decision made by the Mauritanian government to promote to ambassadorial level its diplomatic representation with the Zionist Regime. Mauritania opened a guardianship office in the Zionist State in 1995, an issue that was faced with a wide range of anger and rejection among the Arab and Muslim worlds.

This step by Mauritania is being taken at a time when the Zionist leaders are escalating their arbitrary measures and suppression of our People, their continued occupation of the Palestinian and Arab territories, their denial of the legitimate rights of our People, their expansion of settlement activities, their insisting that Jerusalem is their eternal capital, as well as their rejection of the return of the refugees and their hunting down of our Mujahideen. This step is equivalent to a stab in the backs of our Palestinian People in particular and the Arab and Muslim nations in general. It is also considered a new blow to Arab Unity, which the United States and the Zionist Enemy have been combining their efforts to fragmentize in order to pave the road for the Zionists to dominate the whole Arab region.

Hamas rejects the submission by the Mauritanian authorities to American and Zionist false promises of introducing economic assistance and prosperity to Mauritania. It seems that the Mauritanian authorities have not learned from what happened to other Arab States that signed peace treaties with the usurping Zionist entity and that also falsely believed that these treaties would bring assistance, luxury and prosperity to their countries. On the contrary, they destroyed their economies and increased poverty, unemployment and frustration.

The Zionist Regime took advantage of Mauritania’s poverty and its need to build relations with Tel Aviv since 1995 by reaching an agreement with Mauritania to make its desert a dump for Israeli nuclear wastes, which raised fears and concerns by the Mauritanian People and the Magharebi States because of their consequent threats against the people and states of the region.

The recent decision by the Mauritanian authorities is a blatant refusal of Palestinian and Arab rights. It is also a show of support for the Occupation, which was rejected and condemned by the Mauritanian Muslim People.

We call upon the Arab States to pressure the Mauritanian authorities to reconsider its decision. We also call upon them to stand by the Mauritanian Muslim People and to provide them with every kind of economic assistance in order not to remain an easy prey to the Zionist greediness.

We also call upon the Mauritanian authorities to reconsider its decision and to run in harmony with the ambitions of the Mauritanian, Arab and Muslim masses who reject any kind of relation with the Zionist Regime. We hope that the Mauritanian authorities will reconsider their decision, which deforms the image of the Mauritanian People from which famous Islamic scholars have emerged.

Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas - Palestine