Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations
    GAZA, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Prime minister of the deposed Palestinian unity government Ismail Haneya said on Thursday that liberating Jerusalem and the holy al-Aqsa Mosque can only be achieved through Jihad (Holy War), instead of "absurd peace talks."

    Haneya made the statement at a rally held in Gaza City to mark the 39-year-anniversary of burning al-Aqsa mosque by a Zionist extremist, Muslims' holy shrine in east Jerusalem.

    Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are holding talks on six basic permanent status issues, Jerusalem being one of them. Haneya described these talks and ongoing meetings as "absurd."

    "The Liberation of Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque can be achieved only through Jihad, blood, resistance and martyrdom and not through absurd peace talks," Haneya told the rally.

    Haneya, who is also a senior Hamas leader, and his national unity government were deposed by moderate President Mahmoud Abbas from the rival Fatah movement in June last year, after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by force.

    Haneya said that any secret peace agreement reached with the Israeli occupation, which gives the occupation concession over Jerusalem, "will be totally rejected by the Palestinians, the Arabs and the Muslims."

    "Al-Quds (east Jerusalem) and al-Aqsa Mosque face wild Israeli attacks aim at the Judaization of the city. The occupation has physically managed to deprive us from reaching Jerusalem, but it has spiritually failed," said Haneya.