The Hamas honeytrap

[barb162]

The Hamas honeytrap

For all its peace rhetoric, the new Palestinian leadership is turning back the clock by decades

Zvi Heifetz
Wednesday April 5, 2006
The Guardian

Just a day after a terrorist atrocity in which four Israeli civilians were killed, an article appeared on these pages by the new Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh. It was perfectly tailored for a liberal western readership, presenting his movement, Hamas, as advocates for peace. One should judge Hamas, however, by more than articles intended for western eyes.

Hamas's own charter declares that "liberation of Palestine is an individual duty for every Muslim wherever he may be ... Israel will ... continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it", while more recently Khaled Mashaal, Hamas's most senior leader, speaking in Syria after the Palestinian elections, had this promise for Israelis: "God willing, before they die, they will experience humiliation and degradation every day."

Which then portrays the more honest reflection of Hamas - a sugar-coated article in English, or a speech in Arabic in a Damascus mosque?

Perhaps, though, Haniyeh's more moderate message signals a genuine change in the Hamas position? If so, someone forgot to tell his foreign minister, Mahmoud al-Zahar, who remarked in an interview three days after Haniyeh's article: "I hope that our dream of having an independent state on the entire territory of historical Palestine will be realised one day, and I am sure that there is no room for the state of Israel on this land."

snip

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1746819,00.html

[Jim Sagle]

1. You're SHITTING me.

:-)

[barb162]

2. Now would I do that?

He's pretty on the ball there, isn't he?

:hi:

[Jim Sagle]

Sharp as a tack!

:hi:

[Jim Sagle]

3. Sharp as a tack!

:hi:

[Phx_Dem]

4. nice post

A little surprised to see it in the Guardian.