What Part of “No” Don’t You Understand?

No one can accuse Hamas of being mealy-mouthed. The Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood openly and clearly calls for the destruction of Israel. They refuse to accept the existence of Israel. They have said repeatedly that they will never be willing to co-exist with the Zionist entity.

Yet these are the same people with whom Barack Hussein Obama reputedly has close (but secret) ties. Western politicians seem to think that Hamas leaders don’t really mean it when they say they want to drive the Jews into the sea. It’s all talk, expedient political boilerplate designed to help them on the hustings, and doesn’t reflect the way they really feel. It’s like when an American politician talks about lowering taxes or shrinking government — everybody knows he doesn’t really mean it, but he has to say it in order to get elected.

So, in our eyes, Hamas remains a potential negotiating partner, a serious party to the “peace process”. They’re people we can do business with. It doesn’t matter that over and over again, consistently and without fail, they say things like this:

Hamas ‘Still Committed to Israel’s Destruction’

Damascus, 21 Jan. (AKI) — Palestinian Islamist group Hamas was committed to the destruction of Israel and has no intention of rewriting its charter, a leading Hamas spokesman has told Adnkronos International (AKI). Speaking in the Syrian capital Damascus, Osama Abu Khaled, said: “It is impossible to recognise Israel on any terms and in any circumstances.”

Khaled denied reports in the Israeli daily, The Jerusalem Post, on Thursday that Hamas had accepted Israel’s right to exist and would be prepared to nullify its 20-year-old charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel.

“There has been no change in Hamas’ position towards Israel. Our strategy is clear and unwavering,” Khaled told AKI.

Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, is currently seeking to win recognition from the international community.

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Khaled said comments recognising Israel’s right to exist, which The Jerusalem Post had attributed to Hamas’ most senior representative in the West Bank, Aziz Dwaik, were “false” and had been manipulated.

“Hamas wants a Palestinian state with the pre-1967 borders in exchange for a permanent ceasefire,” he stressed.

Dwaik said during a recent meeting in the West Bank that other Hamas leaders, including Damascus-based leader Khaled Mashaal and Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, had supported establishing an independent Palestinian state within the boundaries before the 1967 Six-Day War.

Dwaik reportedly made the remarks during a meeting he held in the West Bank town of Hebron with British millionaire David Martin Abrahams.

The Jerusalem Post quoted Abrahams saying he would urge British foreign minister David Milliband to “consider the implications of Hamas’s positive overtures.”

[…]

“Dwaik’s comments were intentionally manipulated. From what we know, they were off-the-cuff remarks made with a wealthy Briton,” said Khaled.

My bet is that we’ll continue to accept the Dwaik version of affairs, and go on believing the pie-in-the-sky vision of “Palestine”, right up until the day the Iranian nukes fly. Then everything will change.


Hat tip: C. Cantoni.