An
article in Israel National News tells us that Hamas may alter its notorious
charter in view of the international pressure regarding aid, and that the Turkish government is joining in pressuring them. This spells out for us why it is vital to keep up the pressure and not insist on allowing aid for "humanitarian" reasons. It also makes it clear why it is important for Israel to maintain good relations with moderate Mulsim countries like Turkey, Jordan and Egypt, all of whom can have some leverage in taming Hamas.
The current
charter cites the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and a
hadith about the murder of Jews at the "end of days." It claims all of Palestine as a holy Muslim
waqf. It appears that the charter changes will be cosmetic only and will not reflect a real change in Hamas ideology:
The terrorist leaders have been holding quiet meetings in hotel rooms in Beirut and Damascus to develop a more moderate document which will carry a non-anti-Semitic image.
"The whole language will be changed to political language," he said, rather than the current text which is rife with anti-Semitic statements.
...the document would still call for Israel's destruction and the creation of a Palestinian state on its land. It would, however, provide for a possible long-term cease-fire if Israel returns to the pre-1967 borders.
What they are saying in essence, is "We aren't strong enough to destroy you now. So give us a state where we can educate people to destroy Israel and gather strength. Truce now, die later." There is no reason for Israel to agree to such a "cease fire," which has been "marketed" by Hamas as their "moderate" stance.
Ami Isseroff
Hamas May Alter Charter in Wake of Halted Foreign Aid 14:03 Feb 17, '06 / 19 Shevat 5766
By Hana Levi Julian and Alex Traiman
http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=98715
As the U.S. calls for a halt to international funding, Hamas officials have been quietly working on a new charter that will put a different political face on the PA's ruling party.
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice told the House of Representatives Thursday that the United States is set to halt all funding to the Palestinian Authority, now that Hamas is taking legislative control.
Rice is demanding that the PA meet the demands placed upon it by the Quartet, which call for the entity to recognize Israel's right to exist, disarm its activists and renounce terror. Rice requested the House freeze transfer of all funds, including aid previously approved. She strongly encouraged other nations to similarly cease paying the PA to perpetuate the Hamas terror regime.
In direct contradiction to Hamas' ongoing bluster about its refusal to meet the Quartet's demands, the terrorist group may in fact try to tone down their rhetoric.
Hamas officials have been quietly working on a new charter that will put a different political face on the new majority party in the Palestinian Legislative Council, according to Dr. Azzam Tamimi, director of the Institute for Politican Thought in London.
The terrorist leaders have been holding quiet meetings in hotel rooms in Beirut and Damascus to develop a more moderate document which will carry a non-anti-Semitic image.
"The whole language will be changed to political language," he said, rather than the current text which is rife with anti-Semitic statements.
The 51-year-old, born in Hevron, said the document would still call for Israel's destruction and the creation of a Palestinian state on its land. It would, however, provide for a possible long-term cease-fire if Israel returns to the pre-1967 borders.
The current charter, written when Hamas was founded in 1988 declares that "so-called peaceful solutions contradict the principles of Hamas" and calls for "jihad" (a holy war) to liberate all lands owned by the Jewish people.
The document also cites the virulent "Protocols of Zion" as a legitimate document and holds "Zionists" responsible for the French and Russian revolutions.
Nonetheless, said Tamimi, it is likely the new PA majority leaders will hold up its introduction of the new charter in order not to appear as it if is capitulating to Israeli and international pressure.
Immediate Power Struggle Ahead Hamas will face its first challenge when the Palestinian Legislative Council meets to discuss presidential decrees made last week by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas which place PA bodies under his direct control.
The latest orders give Abbas exclusive control over the PA's radio and TV stations and include several last-minute promotions and appointments of officials.
Hamas has announced it will cancel any law that was passed by the PLC after the January elections and will not accept any Abbas decisions made in the past few days.
"From now on we will have two authorities and most likely this will lead to a class," commented former PA minister Nabil Amr. "The struggle will be between the president's office on the one hand and the parliament and cabinet on the other." Amr, a Fatah candidate from Hevron, lost his seat in the PLC election last month.
The outgoing legislative council was controlled by Abbas' Fatah party.
The Morning After Although Abbas will stay on for the time being as Chairman and president of the PA, Hamas has chosen a new prime minister, 46-year-old Ismail Haniyeh, who is hailed as a "moderate" within the group.
Haniyeh has been a senior member of Hamas since the 1990's. He has served as liaison between his group and the Fatah-ruled PA, rising to prominence in 2004 when Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and his successor Abdel Aziz Rantisi were assassinated by Israel.
The new minister was born in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza. He graduated with a degree in Arabic literature from Gaza City's Islamic University in 1987. He returned in 1992 after a year-long exile in south Lebanon to become the dean of his old alma mater.
Setting Up for the Future Hamas leaders have been busy in the past week, making the rounds of various governments in an attempt to shore up support for its new role and maintain its funding from the international community.
It hasn't been easy.
Despite the EU's assurance that it will continue to allow funds to flow into the PA for the time being, Solana met with Abbas on Thursday in Ramallah to express his support for his ongoing efforts to keep the talks with Israel alive.
Solana also expressed optimism that Russia's plans to meet with Hamas officials "could be helpful if they relay the messages of the Quartet".
Quartet envoy James Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank, meanwhile met in Moscow with Putin to discuss the world body's concerns about the tense situation in the region.
Jordan coyly avoided making any commitments, with Prime Minister Marouf Bakheet inviting Hamas leaders to visit the kingdom but restricting his remarks to welcoming the "delegation of our brothers". Hamas was expelled from Jordan in 1999.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was also circumspect in his talks with Hamas political chief Khaled Meshal, reminding Meshal that his country continues to support the peace process and that violence is not acceptable.
"These days are important days," he said in remarks broadcast on national television. "Correct messages should be given. Someone should do something; if the wrong paths are taken, both Palestinian and Israeli people will get hurt".
Original content is Copyright by the author 2006. Posted at ZioNation-Zionism and Israel Web Log, http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000001.html where your intelligent and constructive comments are welcome. Disributed by ZNN list. Subscribe by sending a message to ZNN-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Please forward by e-mail with this notice, cite this article and link to it. Other uses by permission only.
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WELCOME TO HAMASTAN
BY: FERN SIDMAN
Speaking to an audience last night in Holon, Avi Dichter, who is number 5 on the Kadima list of Knesset candidates, outlined Kadima's plans to evacuate and demolish most of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and to relocate their residents in those that remain.
The new Kadima plan would leave Israel with four or five isolated pockets of Israeli presence; a narrow finger 20 kilometers long from Rosh HaAyin to Ariel in the Shomron; parts of the Jordan Valley; and strips to the north, east and south of Jerusalem. The rest of Judea and Samaria would fall under the control of Hamas.
The communities that are to remain, According to the plan Olmert wishes to implement if he wins the elections, have long been mentioned as the "settlement blocs" of Ariel, Maaleh Adumim and Gush Etzion. Karnei Shomron-Kedumim and the Jordan Valley have occasionally, also been included in what might remain Israeli territory.
Likud Knesset faction head MK Gideon Saar said the new Kadima plan is a "prize for Hamas." "The areas to be evacuated by Israel will immediately become new Hamas bases for attack against Israel and its citizens," Saar said.
Among the communities to be razed under Ehud Olmert's plan would be the following:
In the Binyamin Regional Council, north of Jerusalem: Shilo, Eli, Shvut Rachel, N'vei Tzuf, Psagot, Maaleh Michmas, and Maaleh Levonah.
In the eastern Gush Etzion: Tekoa, Nokdim (El-David). Maaleh Amos and Meitzad. In Samaria Council and northern Samaria: Kedumim, Itamar, Yitzhar, Elon Moreh, Har Bracha, Avnei Cheifetz, Mevo Dotan, Hermesh and Tapuach.
In southern Judea: Adora, Pnei Hever, Maon, Susia, Otniel, Negohot, and Mitzpeh Shalem.
And while this is happening, the intifada of Kassam rockets continues near the Gaza border.
One of five Kassam rockets landed near Kibbutz Carmiya, where dozens of expelled families from Gush Katif have been relocated. Another Kassam rocket caused damage to what is called "strategic installation" south of Ashkelon. Two people were hurt in the attack on the installation and were treated for shock. National infrastructures in Ashkelon include the following:
The Rotenberg Power Plant in southern Ashkelon is Israel's second largest electric station, and supplies about a quarter of the country's electricity. The Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline company (EAPC) in Ashkelon operates three oil pipelines linking Ashkelon, Ashdod and Haifa.. The Ashkelon seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant, the largest destination plant of its kind in the world, is set to ultimately provide an annual 100 million cubic meters of water, or some 15 percent of the country's domestic consumer demand.
And if we weren't already concerned about national security, it has been reported by the PA news agency Duniya Alwatan that a senior official in the Hamas military, known by his nom de guerre, Abu Huzaifa, told the news agency that since the disengagement from Gaza, the Hamas has set up military bases in every city in Gaza. The bases have been training a new cadre of highly motivated fighters for the Jihad, or holy war against non-Muslims and the Jewish state in particular. More specifically, Abu Huzaifa said PA soliders are taught a number of techniques including firing rifles, shooting Kassam rockets, crawling under fences, and climbing up and down buildings. The instructors are Hamas terrorists who received training abroad.
According to Al Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a statement aired by Al-Jazeera, he urged the ruling Hamas terror group to continue terror attacks on Israelis. "Your only alternative is to pursue the armed struggle until the liberation of Palestine and the building of an Islamic state," al-Zawahiri told Al-Jazeera. He also exhorted, " Nothing will do you good, but toting arms and taking revenge against your enemies, the Americans and the Jews... The crusaders and the Jews do not understand but the language of killing and blood." Al-Zawahiri is believed to have masterminded the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks against America, as well as the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Africa.
Former Israeli UN Ambassador Dore Gold wrote an op ed piece Sunday outlining some of the extensive links that have been found linking Hamas and Al-Qaeda:
* In 2003, an Israeli ground unit in Gaza, seeking Hamas suspects, went into a school established by the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. Written materials that Israeli soldiers collected revealed the writings of a famous Saudi Wahabi religious authority, Sheikh Sulaiman al-Ulwan. His ideological entry into the world of Hamas immediately raised eyebrows. After all, his name was featured in a famous Osama bin Laden video clip from December 2001, when the al Qaeda leader entertained his entourage on camera by re-enacting with his hands the hijacked aircraft slamming into the World Trade Center on September 11th. In that video, one Saudi messenger entered the scene at the end, telling bin Laden that he brought with him a "beautiful fatwa" from al-Ulwan, who had justified the mass murder of Americans. Now his ideas have penetrated the Palestinians as well. And his Islamic religious ruling justifying suicide bombing attacks appeared on the Hamas Web site along with those of other al-Qaeda clerics.
* Bin Laden sent emissaries to Hamas in September 2000 and January 2001
* Israel arrested three Hamas terrorists in 2003 after they had returned from an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda chief Abu Zubaydah entered the world of terrorism through Hamas. And according to a 2004 FBI affidavit, Al Qaeda recruited Hamas members to conduct surveillance against potential targets in the United States.
* In 2003 and 2004, Israeli forces found Hamas posters that were distributed in West Bank cities that extolled the war being waged by Islamic militants in the Balkans, Chechnya and Kashmir. At the top was the portrait of Hamas leader Yassin alongside the portraits of bin Laden and Chechen militant leaders like Shamil Besayev, who took credit for the bloody attack on a Russian school in Beslan.
Gold also writes about Hamas and Al-Qaeda's common source of recruits and grassroots support of the Muslim Brotherhood present in every country in the Arab world.
And with all these facts glaring us in the face, the Olmert government still insists on carving up more of Israel, destroying more Jewish settlements, forcibly evicting more Jews from their homes, and demolishing more communities. Giving up more land and expelling more Jews is not going bring peace nor will it assist it setting up new boundaries that will maintain a Jewish majority. Just ask those folks who were evicted from Gush Katif and Amona.
FERN SIDMAN, Sunday, March 26th
Just testing the comments.
Test Comment, Saturday, February 18th
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