The next time a Western media outlet interviews a
Hamas leader, it would be advisable to ask him whether his movement was willing
to change its charter.
Photo Credit: Screen shot
Is Hamas really on its way to moderation and pragmatism, as some Western
political analysts and diplomats have come to believe?
And what do some Hamas leaders mean when they say that they are ready to
accept a Palestinian state “only” in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east
Jerusalem?
These questions were raised after CNN recently aired an interview with
Hamas “political leader” Khaled Mashaal.
Mashaal told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour: “I accept a Palestinian state
according to 1967 borders with Jerusalem as the capital, with the right of
return [of millions of Palestinians to Israel].”
The Hamas leader’s remark has since been misinterpreted by some Westerners as
a sign that the radical Islamist movement, which was established 25 years ago
with the declared goal of destroying Israel, has now abandoned its ideology and
is on its way to endorsing a softer approach.
But while Mashaal was speaking on CNN, several Hamas leaders in the Gaza
Strip were talking — in Arabic — about their intention to pursue the fight
against Israel until the “liberation of all our lands, from the sea to the
river.”
Mashaal’s remark is nothing but an attempt to mislead the international
community into believing that Hamas has endorsed the two-state solution and is
willing to live in peace alongside Israel.
In reality, Hamas has not changed or relinquished its dream of replacing
Israel with an Islamist state that is funded and armed by Iran.
What Mashaal is actually saying is that because Hamas is aware of the fact
that it cannot achieve its goal of destroying Israel now, it will take whatever
land the Israelis give it and then continue the fight to “liberate” all
Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
No one better than Mashaal himself expressed this view in the same CNN
interview, where he stated: “Palestine, from the river to the sea, from the
north to the south, it is my land. And the land of my fathers and grandfathers,
inhabited by the Palestinians from a long time ago…but because of the
circumstances of the region, because of the keenness to stop the bloodshed, the
Palestinians today, and Hamas, have agreed on a program that accepts the 1967
borders.”
What Mashaal and other “moderate” Hamas leaders are saying is this: “Give us
a Palestinian state now in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem so that
we could use it as a launching pad for eliminating Israel.”
In an interview with Al-Jazeera this week, Mashaal admitted for the first
time that Iran has been providing Hamas with weapons and money. He also revealed
that Arab and Islamic countries, as well as individuals and organizations, have
also been supporting Hamas militarily and financially.
Today it has become clear to most Palestinians that a future Palestinian
state would be run by Hamas or Islamic Jihad. These two groups’ popularity has
increased among Palestinians, especially in wake of their self-declared
“victory” over Israel during the recent Israel-Hamas conflict.
Hamas’s effort to depict itself as a “moderate” movement reached its peak
this week when Mashaal phoned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to
voice support for the request to upgrade the status of a Palestinian entity to
non-member observer in the UN.
Mashaal’s phone call was again misinterpreted as a sign that Hamas was
willing to accept a state only within the pre-1967 lines.
But as Hamas officials later explained, the fact that Mashaal had welcomed
Abbas’s statehood bid did not mean that the movement was prepared to give up
“one inch of Palestine.”
Hamas is engaged in a subtle campaign to win the sympathy of the
international community by appearing as if it is ready to abandon its dream of
destroying Israel. Mashaal’s remarks should be seen in the context of a new
Hamas tactic aimed at turning the radical Islamist movement into a legitimate
and recognized player in the international and regional arenas.
Those who have been misled into believing Hamas’s lies should be referred to
the movement’s charter, where it is clearly stated that “The Islamic Resistance
Movement believes that the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Waqf throughout
the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce it or
part of it, or abandon it or part of it…the liberation of that land is an
individual duty binding on all Muslims everywhere. When our enemies usurp some
Islamic lands, Jihad [holy war] becomes a duty binding on all Muslims.”
The next time CNN or any other Western media outlet interviews a Hamas
leader, it would be advisable to ask him whether his movement was willing to
change its charter. Unless Hamas does so, the talk about changes in its strategy
only serves to spread the movement’s campaign of deception
Richard L. Cravatts, Ph.D., President
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
(617) 521-2412
(617) 521-2412
No comments:
Post a Comment