The Palestinian Authority’s new foreign minister, Mahmoud Al-Zahar of the Hamas told Xinhua, China’s official news agency, that he envisions a map of the Middle East that does not have Israel on it. Al-Zahar, who took office last week with the swearing in of the PA’s new Hamas government, said, "I dream of hanging a huge map of the world on the wall at my Gaza home which does not show Israel on it." Al-Zahar’s statement echoes that of Iranian Prime Minister Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in which he vowed “to wipe Israel off the map.” "I hope…to have our independent state...