Can't eliminate Hamas; Palestinian fight humanity's struggle: Nasheed

Neither Israel nor any Western power can destroy Hamas, which is fighting for Palestinian independence, former President Mohamed Nasheed said on Monday. He described the Palestinian war against Israel as a war of all.

Nasheed was speaking on a resolution on banning Israelis from Maldives, which is being debated in the parliament.

Nasheed, who currently serves as the MP for Central Machchangolhi constituency, said western powers are opposing Israel's bombing of Palestinian hospitals and killing children and civilians in the name of destroying Hamas.

"There is no doubt that Hamas cannot be eliminated or destroyed. Humanity is showing us every day that neither Israel nor all Western powers combine can achieve that," Nasheed said.

"The spirit of freedom cannot be destroyed," Nasheed said as some people were protesting outside parliament calling for a ban on Israeli tourists.

"Humans will flight for freedom and will work for it till their end."

Nasheed described the Palestinian struggle for independence as a struggle for the whole of humanity.

"The jihad that the Palestinian people are fighting, their struggle is a struggle of humanity. It is not only the struggle of the Palestinian people. It is the struggle of all of us," he said.

Nasheed said the war will end if the two parties find a way to live together. That is what he has always believed, he said.

"I think we will see this issue every day until the two sides are placed in the same setting, peace is established between the two countries and the two peoples can live together. My prayer is that the Palestinian people will win," Nasheed said.