Mahmoud al-Zahar, the top Hamas official in Gaza, told CNN that a "long-term hudna or long-term truce" with Israel is possible. He laid out a series of conditions Sunday that he said could lead to years of co-existence alongside Israel. He went on to indicate that the new government headed by Hamas would establish an Islamic fundamentalist state in the Palestinian areas.
Here's more from the
CNN interview ...
Speaking from Gaza City, Zahar said if Israel "is ready to give us the national demand to withdraw from the occupied area [in] '67; to release our detainees; to stop their aggression; to make geographic link between Gaza Strip and West Bank, at that time, with assurance from other sides, we are going to accept to establish our independent state at that time, and give us one or two, 10, 15 years time in order to see what is the real intention of Israel after that."
"We can accept to establish our independent state on the area occupied [in] '67," he said. Israel took control of the West Bank and Gaza in the Six-Day War of 1967.
Zahar did not say how long an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza would be acceptable. Key conditions could allow Palestinians to give a "long-term hudna or long-term truce," and "after that, let time heal," he said.
A "hudna," historically, has referred to a long pause in hostilities, during which armies prepared for later battles.
Zahar would not commit Hamas to negotiating with Israel and would not say whether recognizing Israel's existence is a long-term possibility. Specifically, he said ...
But asked about Hamas' call for Israel's destruction, Zahar would not say whether that remains the goal. "We are not speaking about the future, we are speaking now," he said.
Until Israel says what its final borders will be, Hamas will not say whether it will ever recognize Israel, Zahar said. "If Israel is ready to tell the people what is the official border, after that we are going to answer this question."
"Negotiation is not our aim. Negotiation is a method," Zahar said.
The CNN article pointed out that Hamas has orchestrated numerous terrorist attacks, killing and wounding scores of civilians -- most, though not all, Israelis, and that the United States considers Hamas a terrorist organization.
Continuing from the interview ...
Asked whether Hamas would renounce terrorism, Zahar argued the definition of terrorism is unfair.
Israel is "killing people and children and removing our agricultural system -- this is terrorism," he said. "When the Americans [are] attacking the Arabic and Islamic world whether in Afghanistan and Iraq and they are playing a dirty game in Lebanon, this is terrorism."
He described Hamas as a "liberating movement."
Zahar railed against certain Palestinian leaders, whom he said were "deeply corrupted" and misspent money contributed from overseas, including the United States.
The Bush administration has threatened to stop sending millions of dollars to the Palestinians unless the Hamas-led government renounces terrorism. Zahar said the government will use international donations to do reconstruction and build needed institutions. "We are looking for this money, but this money should not be conditioned," he said.
He also said, "We are not taking money from Iran," denying suggestions by Israeli and U.S. officials that there are growing ties between Hamas and Tehran. Iran's president has called for Israel's destruction.
CNN reported that news reports in the region have said Hamas plans to establish separate schools for boys and girls in the Palestinian territories and implement stricter Islamic law.
Asked whether he plans a theocracy instead of a secular government, Zahar responded, "Do you think the secular system is ... serving any nation?"
A secular system "allows homosexuality, allows corruption, allows the spread of the loss of natural immunity like AIDS," he said. "We are here [in Gaza] living under Islamic control. Nothing will change ... If you are going to give a hint that Islamic society will be against the modern life, I think it's incorrect."
Yesterday, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, speaking from Damascus, Syria, said, "The Palestinian people have chosen Hamas for what they stand for." The Hamas charter calls for jihad against the Jewish people and the destruction of the nation of Israel in no uncertain terms.
So, the leaders of Hamas have promised to do for the Palestinian people on the West Bank what they have done in Gaza. If anyone has any doubt that the new government to be established by Hamas will be anything remotely resembling a modern democracy, I think we now have been told that it will be mainly an Islamic fundamentalist state under armed control of Hamas militants.
Perhaps more telling, Hamas will not repudiate its stated goal of killing the Jewish people in Israel and destroying the nation of Israel. The future does not look good for peace anytime soon.
