Hamas sends Israel a message

[RJnAbbysNana]

Hamas sends Israel a message

alJazeera.com
2/8/2006 7:00:00 PM GMT


Khaled Mashaal, the political leader of the Palestinian anti-occupation movement HAMAS, said that the resistance group is willing to take all steps needed to bring peace to the region if Israel does the same.

Speaking to BBC on Wednesday, Mr. Mashaal said that his group would not renounce the armed resistance, *reiterating that fighting against the occupation forces was legal.

<snip>

Earlier, Moussa Abu Marzouk, Mr. Mashaal’s right-hand man stated that Hamas will not recognize Israel but will abide by all agreements reached between Palestinian leaders and the Jewish state.

"We will act in the legal framework to get out from this deadlock, which our brothers in Fatah have put us in," Abu Marzouk told reporters on Sunday.

Khaled Mashaal, who lives in exile in the Syrian capital, Damascus, said that no long-term ceasefire agreement will ever be reached with Israel unless the Jewish state accepts Hamas’ demands **including a return to its 1967 borders.

<snip>

http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=10530

*By international law, Palestinians have a right to fight back against the occupying forces.
**This is not unreasonable; but I would personally like to see it return to the 1948 borders which is more equitable, although the 1948 division of land was disproportionate in favor of the Israelis.

Regards,

RJnAbbysNana

[mike_c]

1. Hamas wants to govern credibly-- they will work with Israel pragmatically

...if not enthusiastically. Now it's up to Israel.

[dusmcj]

2. not calling for the dismantling of the nation of Israel would be a start

At an antiwar rally in the US, a female Palestinian speaker described looking forward to the "dismantling of the nation of Israel".

As long as Palestinians of whatever party who take it upon themselves to speak publicly do not abandon this line of thinking, there will be no peace in the mideast, no viable Palestinian state, and no quality of life or freedom for Palestinians. Anyone who thinks that the nation of Israel will be dismantled or otherwise cease to exist is out of touch with reality. Politicians who are out of touch with reality are incapable of serving their people effectively, and thus do their people a disservice. Current Palestinian politics seem to involve maintaining the Fatah proclamations of 30 years ago as a way of keeping the people perpetually high and receptive towards a frequently corrupt and ineffectual leadership. Come to terms with the notion of coexistence, show that you are strong enough to step towards peace even when the other side appears not to. No other way will succeed.

[president4aday]

3. Do Israeli's talk about dismantling Palestine,

or do they just send in the bulldozers?

[mike_c]

4. Israel has been working on dismantling Palestine for 60 years....

They've nearly succeeded.

[sabbat hunter]

5. umm

check your history, in 1948 israel was attacked by the surrounding Arab countries. they wanted nothing less than the destruction of israel and to push the jews into the sea (go check original documents from that time)

also from 1948-1967 jordan annexed the west bank (and changed their name from transjordan to jordan) and the egyptians ruled gaza. pray tell me why palestine wasnt declared along side of israel in 1948 but instead israel was attacked from all sides.

[mike_c]

6. I know the history....

The partition of Palestine was in response to prolonged terrorism against Palestinians and British by Haganah and Irgun prior to 1948.

[sabbat hunter]

12. and of course

of course the arabs were perfectly innocent and committed no attacks against jews </sarcasm>

ill repeat the question, why wasnt a palestine declared in 1948 or in the years between 1948-1967?

[RJnAbbysNana]

9. A Synopsis of the Israel/Palestine Conflict

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/

Regards,

RJnAbbysNana

[dusmcj]

7. keep up the "you did it first"

seems like both parties are ultimately the inheritors of more British Empire boy divide-the-heathens exit from empire strategizing. And they oblige by hacking away at each other for decades. Just keep it up, a Palestinian state is sure to emerge.

[president4aday]

8. Yes, I agree Israel "did it first". But that's OK with you. Right?

[dusmcj]

11. good luck trying to twist my words, you have nothing to agree to.

As I said, _all_ the residents of the area once known as the British Palestinian mandate, now occupied by several modern nations, are dealing with the negative effects of British colonial policy, and the methodology by which the British detached themselves from their empire, which was to ostensibly provide ethnically homogenous enclaves, but actually to create borders which served the purposes of the western powers and were semi-arbitrary with respect to those ethnic groups. This was done repeatedly throughout the empire.

By the way, I doubt that Haganah and Irgun terrorism was the motivating force for the creation of the state of Israel. Zionism had gained a receptive ear in some parts of the west for 100 years by then. Without the political support of the west for the creation of Israel, it would not have come into existence.

A negative view might be that the racists of 'liberal' European good society with their long history of self-satisfied ignorance and antisemitism viewed creating a Jewish state as a way of settling "the Jewish question" in a way which would not arouse world opprobium the way the German approach to the issue did. So that, if you don't like the fact of the existence of Israel, under this assumption you can blame the same kind of ignorami who today invade countries for oil, kill and circumsize their women, think the world will be impressed when they pose in jeans and designer jackets with their AK-47s, and convince their young that committing suicide is the best way to advance the interests of their people.

[Lefty48197]

10. Does Israel have to shut down their pizza parlors and park their buses?

Because apparently they're some sort of military implements.