Beware of hudna
Our friends at RealClearPolitics have included a column by Khalid Mashaal -- the head of the "political bureau" of Hamas -- in its lineup this morning. It is a chilling statement that deserves a close reading. It concludes:
Our message to the Palestinians is this: our people are not only those who live under siege in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip but also the millions languishing in refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria and the millions spread around the world unable to return home. We promise you that nothing in the world will deter us from pursuing our goal of liberation and return. We shall spare no effort to work with all factions and institutions in order to put our Palestinian house in order. Having won the parliamentary elections, our medium-term objective is to reform the PLO in order to revive its role as a true representative of all the Palestinian people, without exception or discrimination.The Guardian omits any mention of Mashaal's whereabouts, but he resides in Damascus, where he was last seen at the terrorist summit with the presidents of Syria and Iran.Our message to the Israelis is this: we do not fight you because you belong to a certain faith or culture. Jews have lived in the Muslim world for 13 centuries in peace and harmony; they are in our religion "the people of the book" who have a covenant from God and His Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) to be respected and protected. Our conflict with you is not religious but political. We have no problem with Jews who have not attacked us - our problem is with those who came to our land, imposed themselves on us by force, destroyed our society and banished our people.
We shall never recognise the right of any power to rob us of our land and deny us our national rights. We shall never recognise the legitimacy of a Zionist state created on our soil in order to atone for somebody else's sins or solve somebody else's problem. But if you are willing to accept the principle of a long-term truce, we are prepared to negotiate the terms. Hamas is extending a hand of peace to those who are truly interested in a peace based on justice.
Today's Jerusalem Post reports that Mashaal is headed to Cairo for discussions with PA Chairman Abbas about the formation of a new government. Mashaal vividly demonstrates in his person that the Iran/Syrian Axis is on the march in Hamastan. Despite the relative clarity and intransigence of Mashaal's Guardian column, Daniel Pipes predicts:
...an approximate repeat performance of the pressure on Arafat in 1982-88 to renounce terrorism. But Robert Satloff of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, an acute observer of the Arab-Israeli conflict, doubts that Hamas will be compelled even to match Arafat’s concessions back then.The Jerusalem Post article contains the glimmers of a nod to the "verbal demands" to which Pipes alludes:I also expect that, despite bold statements how it will not change, Hamas will play along with the verbal demands on it. Feeling a financial pinch and diplomatic pressure, its leaders will adopt Arafat’s habit of delivering opaque hints and saying one thing in English and another in Arabic. Like Arafat, they might even “renounce” terrorism or pretend to change their Protocols-laced covenant.
Indeed, what Yossi Klein Halevi calls “the era of the wink and the hint” has already begun, with Hamas largely desisting from terrorism against Israel during its declared tahdiya (calming down) in 2005, then somewhat moderating its rhetoric in recent weeks; for example, it proposed a 15-year truce with Israel. The makeover shows signs of success: former U.S. president Bill Clinton, often an opinion bellwether, has just urged the Bush administration to consider dealing with Hamas.
In an attempt to appease the international community, some Hamas representatives continued on Monday to issue conciliatory statements toward Israel.Here another of Pipes's predictions seems to come into play:Sheikh Adnan Asfour, one of the political leaders of Hamas in the West Bank, said Hamas did not want to destroy Israel or remove it from the map.
"Hamas recognizes Israel as a fact on the ground," he said. "But we don't recognize the legitimacy of its occupation."
Asfour reiterated his movement's willingness to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 boundaries and to reach a long-term cease-fire with Israel.
"That way the Israelis would be able to guarantee their security and we would also be able to live in security," he said. "Let's leave the conflict to future generations to resolve."
Another Hamas representative, Anwar Zaboun, said negotiations with Israel were not haram (forbidden by religion).
"It's forbidden to make concessions on our rights," he said. "But negotiations and discussions are not sinful."
Hassan Safi, a Hamas member of the Bethlehem Municipal Council, said he was even prepared to shake hands with Israeli officials.
I predict Palestinian-Israeli negotiations will resume their glorious record of bringing goodwill, harmony, and tranquility, with Israel this time facing a far more determined and clever foe than the blighted Arafat or the hapless Mahmoud Abbas.
