Hamas hints at long-term truce in return for '67 borders

[Behind the Aegis]

A long-term truce (hudna) with Israel is possible if Israel retreats to its pre-1967 borders and releases Palestinian prisoners, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar told CNN on Monday.

"We can expect to establish our independent state on the area before '67 and we can give a long-term hudna," Zahar told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

Zahar laid out a series of conditions that he said could lead to years of co-existence alongside Israel. He said that if Israel "is ready to give us the national demand to withdraw from the occupied area '67; to release our detainees; to stop their aggression; to make geographic link between Gaza Strip and West Bank, at that time, with assurance from other sides, we are going to accept to establish our independent state at that time, and give us one or two, 10, 15 years time in order to see what is the real intention of Israel after that."

Asked about Hamas' call for Israel's destruction, Zahar would not say whether that remains the goal. "We are not speaking about the future, we are speaking now," he said.


more...

[rpannier]

1. While there are those who would want Israel to immediately accept this

proposal, like there are those who would reject it out of hand. I think they should study it. If I were in Israel, I would be apprehensive about accepting this deal as long as the Hamas do not recognize the right of the state of Israel to exist.
Israel gives up land, then what?
The future has to be part of the negotiations.

[ingac70]

2. Isn't that what the long term truce is?

Negotiation of the future?

[Chipper Chat]

3. How is a geographic link between Gaza and the West Bank

possible? A tunnel / skybridge? Through the Negev? Help me out here.

[channa18]

4. Ahhhhh.....the "Needle-in-a-haystack" evaluation begins,

This is where Hamas gives the western media a few little <<<wink,wink,nod,nod>>> tidbits that when viewed thru western eyes can be interpreted as "a change" and everyone stats screaming...."see...theyve changed !!".


What a scam. Arafat played the same game of doublespeak.

Of course the EU will find way to rationalize their previous stance against dealing with terrorists.....theyre very flexible in that way.


What you WONT hear....

"We fully accept the right of israel to exist and we fully and totally will ACT in that regard....to this end we will disarm and actively end all attacks agaist the soverign state of israel."

Let me know when THOSE words are said.


:)

[Violet_Crumble]

5. Some related words you won't hear...

"We admit that our ongoing occupation and settlement building in the Occupied Territories is illegal and immoral, and we acknowledge the grave wrong done to the Palestinian refugees from 1948..to this end we will take genuine steps to end the occupation, cease all settlement activity and end all attacks against the Palestinian people, because we recognise that just because Palestine isn't yet a sovereign state, those people still have all the human rights and dignity that Israelis do..."


You let me know when THOSE words are said. Me, I won't hold my breath waiting for either set...

Violet....

[sabbat hunter]

6. definition of hudna

Hudna (هدنة) is an Arabic term meaning "truce" or "armistice" as well as "calm" or "quiet", coming from a verbal root meaning "calm". It is sometimes translated as "cease-fire". In the Lisan al-Arab (Ibn al-Manzur's definitive dictionary of classical Arabic, dating to the 14th century) it is defined as follows:

"hadana: he grew quiet. hadina: he quieted (transitive or intransitive). haadana: he made peace with. The noun from each of these is hudna."

A particularly famous early hudna was the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah between Muhammad and the Quraysh tribe.

According to Umdat as-Salik, a medieval summary of Shafi'i jurisprudence, hudnas with a non-Muslim enemy should be limited to 10 years: "if Muslims are weak, a truce may be made for ten years if necessary, for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) made a truce with the Quraysh for that long, as is related by Abu Dawud" ('Umdat as-Salik, o9.16).


http://www.answers.com/topic/hudna

edited for link