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Militant Hamas Rejects Peace Plan
AP via Arab World News ^ | March 28 2002

Posted on 03/28/2002 11:53:17 AM PST by knighthawk

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Hamas, the Islamic militant group that said it was behind a lethal suicide bombing in Israel this week, rejected the Arab peace initiative to Israel on Thursday and vowed to continue ``all kinds of resistance.''

``The summit resolutions are below the aspirations and the sacrifices of the Palestinian people. The resolutions ignored a lot of the Palestinian people's demands,'' Osama Hamdan, Hamas' representative in Lebanon, told The Associated Press.

The overture, endorsed Thursday by the Arab League at a two-day summit in Beirut, offered Israel peace, recognition and ``normal relations'' in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from war-conquered Arab lands, creation of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital and a ``just solution'' for Palestinian refugees.

Hamas, which has conducted a string of deadly attacks during the 18-month Palestinian intefadeh, or uprising, said it sent a suicide bomber who killed 20 people and wounded more than 130 others Wednesday at a Passover dinner in the Israeli resort town of Netanya.

In Gaza City, Hamas spokesman Abdel Aziz Rantisi said the Arab summit did not change anything for his group, which is dedicated to Israel's destruction.

``As long as there is occupation, there will be a resistance. So we say it clearly: Occupation should be stopped and then there will be something else,'' Rantisi said.

``I believe that the resistance and the intefadeh will continue in all forms,'' Hamdan said. Asked if ``all forms'' includes suicide bombings, he replied: ``The type of operation is left for Hamas' military wing to decide.''

Rantisi denied the Netanya bombing was timed to coincide with the Arab summit, which convened about seven hours before the bombing.

The Palestinian Authority said it ``strongly condemned'' the Netanya attack. Arafat ordered the arrests of key members of Hamas and two other militant groups, Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Arafat's own Fatah movement.

In Beirut, Hamdan said that, instead of offering Israel peace, the Arab summit ``should have cut all kinds of relations and contacts with the Zionist entity.''

``We want a clear commitment to the right of return to the Palestinian refugees'' and ``clear resolutions in support of the resistance and the intefadeh, he said. ``The Palestinian people want an Arab boycott in the face of Israeli aggression and terrorism against them.''

The peace initiative's call for a ``just solution'' for the refugee problem was based on U.N. resolutions that call for refugees either to return to land they lost in Israel or receive compensation.

Despite Hamas' hard-line stance on peace with Israel, a statement released by the group in Beirut noted what it called ``positive elements'' in the summit's final statement — praise and support of the Palestinian uprising, the distinction it made between terrorism and resistance and a ``breakthrough'' in relations between Iraq and Kuwait.


TOPICS: Front Page News; Israel; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: hamas; israel; saudipeaceplan
The Saudi peace plan is a Trojan horse! They still aid HAMAS: Saudis continue to fund Hamas
1 posted on 03/28/2002 11:53:17 AM PST by knighthawk
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To: golitely; dennisw; TopQuark; Alouette; OKCSubmariner; veronica; weikel; EU=4th Reich...
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
2 posted on 03/28/2002 11:53:58 AM PST by knighthawk
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To: knighthawk
I would like to be added to the list. Thanks.
3 posted on 03/28/2002 11:57:10 AM PST by Wyatt's Torch
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To: knighthawk; Bold Fenian
Hey B.F., looks like Hamass is not living up to your billing as reasonable people with whom one could negoitiate in good faith. Now what?

I say negoitiate a blade into their backs.

4 posted on 03/28/2002 12:02:51 PM PST by justshutupandtakeit
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To: knighthawk

The Great Passover War of 2002

Coming to a Hamas terrorist camp near you


5 posted on 03/28/2002 12:06:32 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: knighthawk
Add me also, please.
6 posted on 03/28/2002 12:06:39 PM PST by Steve0113
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To: knighthawk
Well, there we have it. Even if Israel cuts a "peace" deal with its neighbors, there will be no peace. I hope the world is paying attention.
7 posted on 03/28/2002 12:48:37 PM PST by My2Cents
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To: My2Cents
the only way to have any kind of ceasefire is for arafat to resign and have a palestinian who has the will and power to crackdown....and crackdown hard on all the terrorists. they know where they are. until then, i just don't know what should be done. my wish is for israel to warn women and children to leave then destroy these nests of murderers. but it won't be done.
8 posted on 03/28/2002 1:49:45 PM PST by contessa machiaveli
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To: My2Cents
Well said! There has been nothing on CNN or MSNBC regarding Hamas' take. They are in the process of sucking up to Arabs again.
9 posted on 03/28/2002 1:51:14 PM PST by whadizit
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To: whadizit
Did you see Geraldo's interview with the Hamas guy at the Arab summit in Beruit? He asked him about the bombing at the hotel yesterday, and the Hamas guy said, "They are enemies." Geraldo said, "No they're not! They were innocent people!" Hamas guy: "They are enemies; they occupy our land...blah, blah, blah..."

Some Arabs may be willing to recognize Israel, but some never will, and consequently there will be continual violence in the Middle East, unless Israel gets tough and cleans out the nest of vermin.

BTW, kudos to Geraldo for getting that Hamas guy on video, and for Fox News Channel for airing it.

10 posted on 03/28/2002 2:17:22 PM PST by My2Cents
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To: knighthawk
Thanks for the ping.

A reminder for everyone, Hamas is a terrorist group which has murdered Americans, is on our list of terrorist organizations, and with whom America is at war.

11 posted on 03/28/2002 2:51:18 PM PST by SJackson
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To: knighthawk
Add me please, thanks.
12 posted on 03/28/2002 2:57:02 PM PST by agrace
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To: knighthawk
As stated in the article (AP no less)

Hamas spokesman Abdel Aziz Rantisi said the Arab summit did not change anything for his group, which is dedicated to Israel's destruction.

No amount of appeasment or compromise will result in the end of violence. The end of violence will only come about with the complete extermination of one side or the other as Hamas has admitted, though they wish the Israelies to be the ones to be exterminated.

It has been said (time and time again for those who support the Palestinians) that desperate times call for desperate measures. Suicide bombers are NOT desperate measures, they are INSANE measures by those who don't care about their own people. We fought for our independence but we didn't do it by blowing ourselves up and taking out innocent lives by design.

For the American Palestinian sympathizers who think the "occupied" lands should be returned (land gained by war started by the Arabs), apply that logic to the southwest and eastern seaboard of the U.S. Shall we return the southwestern U.S. to Mexico and the Eastern seaboard to England? That idiotic logic would suggest the same.

13 posted on 03/28/2002 6:11:46 PM PST by cidrasm
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