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Posted on 04/02/2006 11:33:24 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
Newly-installed Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar on Sunday reiterated Hamas's desire to eliminate Israel and replace it with an Islamic state.
Zahar's remarks, in an interview with the Chinese news agency Xinhua, dispel hopes that Hamas's presence in power would have a moderating effect on its leaders. His statements also stand in sharp contrast with Hamas's attempt to project a conciliatory and pragmatic image following the movement's landslide victory in last January's parliamentary election.
Other Hamas leaders, including Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, have not ruled out over the past few weeks the possibility of negotiating with Israel or recognizing its right to exist.
"I dream of hanging a huge map of the world on the wall at my Gaza home which does not show Israel on it," Zahar said in the interview. "I hope that our dream to have our independent state on all historic Palestine (will materialize)."
This dream, he added, "will become real one day. I'm certain of this because there is no place for the state of Israel on this land."
However, Zahar, who is the overall leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, said he didn't rule out the possibility of having Jews, Muslims and Christians living under the sovereignty of an Islamic state, adding that the Palestinians never hated the Jews and that only the Israeli occupation was their enemy.
Zahar also said that the new Hamas cabinet might occasionally make contacts with Israel on running the daily affairs of the Palestinians, but stressed that these contacts would never be promoted to political talks.
Urging the international community to respect the Palestinian people's choice, Zahar said the new cabinet should be given a chance to show it was "clean and transparent."
He also called on the US to abandon its long-time partial policy that favors Israel and to refrain from exerting political and economic pressure on the Hamas cabinet.
"There are so many countries which support the Hamas cabinet and its stance," he said, without elaborating. "We will establish diplomatic relations with these countries."
Zahar said that the Hamas cabinet would "reconsider" previous agreements with Israel, noting that Israel had sabotaged these agreements. "Do you want us to repeat the same experience?" he asked.
Asked if Hamas would ever negotiate with Israel, Zahar said: "Israel wants to negotiate only for the sake of negotiations, but on the ground, it expands settlements and continues building the separation fence on Palestinian territories. Israel doesn't want peace, nor does it have any peace project. Therefore, we should not deceive our people and tell them that there will be negotiations."
Zahar said Hamas did not rule out the possibility of accepting a temporary two-state solution, but expressed doubts over whether Israel really wanted to see the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
"Does Israel believe in the idea of two states?" he asked. "Israel is deceiving the international community and it actually wants only a Jewish state and it just hopes to see the Palestinians have an autonomous regime."
Later, Zahar's office issued a statement denying that he supported a two-state solution. The statement claimed that Zahar's statements had been "distorted."
Meanwhile, Haniyeh on Sunday attacked the US for its decision to boycott the Hamas cabinet, saying the Palestinians were being punished because of their democratic choice.
"This government was elected in a free and honest election, and according to the democratic principles the American administration is calling for," Haniyeh said.
"We believe this is a punishment of the Palestinian people because of its democratic choice, and at the same time, it increases the people's suffering."
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I dream of a world where Islam is a peaceful religion.
Zahar's remarks, in an interview with the Chinese news agency Xinhua, dispel hopes that Hamas's presence in power would have a moderating effect on its leaders.
Let us examine this statement a little closer.
There are those who hoped that by giving power to Hamas
they would moderate their views.
These are the same types of people who had no problem
giving the Sudatenland, and Czechoslovacia to Hitler
"IN THE HOPES" he would not do what he said he was going
to do before coming to power.
Fools.
Having been given the power to achieved their aims what incentive is there for them to moderate?
It only vindicates their belief in the rightness of their cause, and the methods used to achieve it.
So do they. All we have to do is submit, remember?
That's a heck of a "I have a dream..." speech.
At least they're dumb enough to be honest about it. Does any one truly believe Arafat et al did not believe the same thing? They just didn't say it (in English at least) giving the left some room to give them a pass on it.
I just had an odd thought -- if John Lennon were alive today he would almost certainly be siding with the terrorists.
The way Israel is acting lately, the Arabs may get their wish.
Israel has gone metrosexual.
I have a dream too - a dream of Israel in sole control of the temple mount, and no Palestinian territory or state on the map.
Is the US still funding Hamas? If so, why?
Israel is not Muslim land - it was given to Abraham - and handed down to his son, Isaac. But .. the bastard son, Ishmael, believes he deserves the inheritance (because he was born before Isaac) - and thus the fight over the land which God gave to Abraham. This is a 4,000 yr old land dispute between half-brothers, each claiming a right to the land. I'm siding with Isaac.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
How could we "still" be doing something we've never done?
Gees, Israel is in the middle of all those Muslim nations. It is amazing they are still around.
It's God's power and promise.
http://www.direct.ca/trinity/y3nf.html
There are Islamic scholars that will admit that before Mohammed, the Arab people believed that they descended from someone other than Ishmael.
I forget his name. I'll have to page through the "The Evidence Bible" again.
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