Hamas' leadership needs new blood. I will continue to serve my people. But the presidency of the Palestinian Autonomous Authority is not a free, sovereign position - it is an office that is confined by the occupation. That's why this position is not interesting for Hamas.

The Palestinian issue is a national, political issue. It's not to be seen as an economic issue that would be solved or addressed by some economic approach that makes the living standard of the people under occupation better. The Palestinian people are fed up with talks that have been going on for years. We are looking for peace, but we are not looking for a new peace process. This process will fail.

We target the Israeli occupation, not civilians. We are defending ourselves with the simple military means that we have at our disposal. We are keen to develop and to get accurate, sophisticated weaponry in order to precisely target Israeli military installations.

Our political document shows that we are prepared in the context of a national consensus to accept a state on the lines of the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as the capital and fulfilling the right of return for refugees. That does not mean that this document recognizes the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation. Nor does it mean that we will cede any part of the Palestinian territories.

What Hamas and the Palestinian people are doing is legitimate resistance against the Israeli occupation. Our resistance is confined to the territories inside Palestine and only targets the Israeli occupation. We are not blood-mongering killers who kill innocent people around the world.

We are confident that through discussing with Arab and Islamic states, as well as with the League of Arab States, we will be able to reach a common vision towards maintaining the constants of our people and deal with reality.

Regrettably, what we are now seeing is that the new U.S. government with Donald trump is stuck in the same old, partisan thinking patterns in terms of our resistance. That is a mistake.