SPIEGEL:

The week before last, your associate Rantissi barely escaped an Israeli rocket attack. Do you also fear for your life?

Sahar: Fear is paralyzing. That's why such feelings are the wrong reaction in the current situation.

SPIEGEL: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has threatened to hunt down all terrorists. And you are at the very top of the list of prominent targets.

Sahar: We take precautions, of course. But the Israelis have targeted all Palestinians. During the past few weeks, more than 50 people have died here in the Gaza Strip, and more than half were women and children. That is the goal of the Zionists: To break our backbones with violence.

SPIEGEL: Your approach is no less violent. Your suicide bombers are spreading fear and dread. Has this bloody strategy been worth it for the Palestinians?

Sahar: At least we have achieved one thing: No one in Israel can feel safe anymore, whether in Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv, or Jaffa. In the past, Israel usually conducted its wars at its borders. Now, for the first time, there is fighting in the interior, in the heart of the country.

SPIEGEL: But at what price? More than 2,000 of your own people have died during this conflict, and thousands have been wounded. Aren't the Palestinians tired of this constant fighting and killing?

Sahar: There is no alternative. After all, we were also forced to accept countless victims in the past, in Lebanon, in Jordan. Back then, there were about 20 Palestinian victims for every Israeli killed. Now the ratio is three to one.

SPIEGEL: Doesn't that calculation show contempt for human life?

Sahar:The goal is not to kill. We are human beings, we have wives and children. We want a life with dignity and national independence, the end of the occupation. Nevertheless, we have no other choice but to send the Israelis a clear message: If you continue with these murders, you must drink the same poison.

SPIEGEL:Is that why you send suicide bombers onto buses and into restaurants?

Sahar: They are the only effective tool against Israeli helicopters, fighter jets, and tanks. The Israelis have only been willing to negotiate since they began suffering just as we do. For the first time since the founding of the State of Israel, there is a prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who accepts a Palestinian state.

SPIEGEL: Rabin and Barak wanted the same thing. But you are completely unwilling to accept a negotiated solution. Last week US Secretary of State Powell called you an "enemy of peace." Isn't it true that Hamas is rejecting President George W. Bush' peace plan?

Sahar: The so-called Roadmap was produced in Israel and was only publicized by Bush. At the recent summit in Akaba, he described Israel as a "Jewish state," thereby depriving the 1.25 million Palestinians who live in Israel the right to their own country. After all, they were the country's true owners.

SPIEGEL: But Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbasalso agreed to the US proposal.

Sahar: But he doesn't represent the Palestinians. Our exiles' right to return was omitted, as was the question of Jerusalem and the release of prisoners.

SPIEGEL: Abbas wants there to be only one Palestinian military organization in the future, the state security forces. Is that acceptable to Hamas?

Sahar: Not as long as the occupation continues.

SPIEGEL: Could there be a civil war if the Prime Minister insists on disarmament?

Sahar: Suppressing Hamas, as Yassir Arafat tried to do six years ago, is impossible. The Autonomous Authority will not even be capable of playing the Israelis' dirty game.

SPIEGEL: That sounds like confrontation. Nonetheless, your organization is also discussing a cease-fire.

Sahar: Such a step could only be considered after the Israeli troops withdraw from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Then we could negotiate a cease-fire, provided it is based on mutual interests.

SPIEGEL: Is this a matter of days or months?

Sahar: At this point it is a matter of weeks. We need binding, bilateral commitments. And we need a common stance, one that includes Mahmud Abbas and all political groups and factions.

SPIEGEL: That sounds like a change of course at Hamas. Is this attributable to pressure from Egypt?

Sahar: Not at all. We told Cairo's emissaries that we must agree to a joint position in the fight against the occupying power. If a treaty binding on both sides materializes, we will abide by it.

SPIEGEL: If there is a cease-fire, are you even capable of controlling your armed fighters?