Well, this will make it harder for the learned pundits to keep insisting that this was a vote against corruption and not a vote for the destruction of Israel. But they'll find a way, I'm sure. From AP, with thanks to Gabrielle Goldwater:
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the Islamic group will "complete the liberation of other parts of Palestine," But did not say which territories he was referring to or how he would go about it.
All AP need do is refer to the Hamas Charter, which makes it quite clear that the territories in question include every inch of the State of Israel.
Before the Hamas government can even contemplate "liberating" the other parts of Palestine, it will have to find some answers, such as : who will supply PA with water, gas, medical care, green-houses, olive trees, jobs etc. How will the "Palestinians" survive without Israel? One can't live off jihad. I wonder....
"But did not say which territories he was referring to or how he would go about it."
Hmm, what's a diligent reporter to do? If only there was some way to get the information...
Thankfully, Robert is a bit more diligent than the reporter, and provides the link. In it, both questions are answered:
Which territories?
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up."
How will they go about it?
"Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of [HAMAS]...There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad."
Hmm, it does not say how a peaceful internal introspection [Jihad] will cause the territories to come into their possession.
All Hamas needs to do is imitate Mohammad (pb&j) and lie about changing their "destroy Israel" charter.
Then work to destroy Israel in the form of a "radical offshoot" (which Hamas can secretly fund). May I suggest their name: Fatwa-ckjob?
Voila!
I have solved the ME Crisis!
(At least as far as the P.C. pinheaded press and self-neutered EU leadership are concerned.)
Let the Jizya flow!
Hamas is reformed.
They know how to be nice.
All is well.
I have read the Hamas charter as well as other documents....
Apparently None of the Muslims have read it.
Hamass has STATED Publicly and Acted in accordance with Islamic Sharia Laws..
They will not stop...
they cannot ...
It is Un-islamic..
Only the Fools on the Left still believe this vile crap..
...One can't live off jihad. I wonder....
Well it has been lucrative with all the jizyah so jihad is quite the enterprise. If the EU wants to continue to finance the jihad, fine, but if the US, ie Bush and Condi, want to continue to finance the jihad, we should vote them all out. This 'war on terror' is ambiguous about its enemy and confused in its tactics. You can't win based on a foolish and naive understanding of Islam. This complete misnderstanding of Islam is the quiksand that this war is being waged on. Time to get out of the pit.
Has anyone ever seen a bald leopard? Somehow I don't think Hamas will change its tactics.
Yep, the media insists on being deluded.
Earlier today on FOX News (of all places!) a bubble-headed blonde bimbette reported hope that "death-to-Israel" Hamas will suddenly lay down its arms and join Israel in lasting peace. It was the dawning of a new age...
What an incredible load of crap.
These muslims have grown up being prepped for Jihad. All they know is that when they die in jihad, it's immediate paradise. All they know is murder.
Islam has never been defeated - it has only ever been "pushed back." Islam has only ever been "pushed back" when the West was busy killing their asses. Killing them is the only thing these animals understand.
We can pretend Islam is all "moderate" like our secular fantasies wish them to be, but not a single muslim of note (check MEMRI's Reformation section) is calling for Islam to be modernized.
1.3billion muslims and not one is striving to change it.
Radical muslims murder children. Moderate muslims look the other way. If there was any kind of meaningful % of muslims (there's 1.3billion, remember) who were horrified at the child murders, then you'd see TENS of MILLIONS of muslims protesting (even a small percentage). The fact that there's none means the entire damn "religion" is nothing but a political murder cult.
It’s very difficult to find anything positive in the recent Hamas terror-group victory in the Palestinian elections. After all, we are talking about one of the most ruthless terror organizations in the entire world with close ties to Hezbollah of Lebanon and the fanatic Mullah’s of Iran. It is truly astonishing and telling that over half of the entire Palestinian electorate felt comfortable voting for this overt terrorist organization that demands Israel’s complete destruction.
Now, the Neocon knows that politically correct folks like Dennis Ross, pencil-pushers at the State Department and others, will undoubtedly describe this election as a vote for “change,” or a vote “against corruption,” or a vote for “improved Social Services.” These are all, of course, laughable grasps at wishful thinking.
So what is the bright side of this election? The Neocon Express, always looking for sunshine in dark places, has been searching far and wide for anything positive that may come out of this election, and finally has found something deep down in the bottom of the barrel: CLARITY & TRUTH.
Until now, it was entirely possible for the PC crowd to perpetuate the pretension that they represented majority opinion and that their grand schemes were not built on a delusional house of cards. Hamas was portrayed as the lunatic fringe and everyone was assured that the vast majority of Palestinians, like Israelis, were simply interested in Peace if their basic grievances were addressed. Both parties were authoritatively declared to be two sides of the same coin.
Of course, the Palestinian side had never truly been tested as to their real sentiments, that is, until yesterday, when Palestinians went to the polls in their first TRULY CONTESTED election; and now we can all see the results. Now for the first time we can see the real picture, exposed in all its naked uglyness. So much for the two-sides-of-the-same-coin theory.
That, the Neocon believes is the glimmer of positive news to emerge from the Palestinian elections: Clarity and truth. Now we all know, if only for a short period of time until the PC crowd scramble to muddle up the picture as quickly as possible, where true sentiments lay on the Palestinian side. All the talk about a vote for “change,” and a vote against “corruption” and all the other non-sense cannot cover up the plain truth: This was primarily a vote for terror.
The Neocon believes that it is far better to deal with reality than with fantasy. Peace will never be achieved if the truth is not laid out bare for all to see, and to deal with it as it is and not as we wish it were. Clarity will let us see, and the truth will set us free.
Joe Gelman
I know the big topic is Israel, Hamas and the US . . . ie the main powers in all of this, but I wonder what will happen to the weakened, Christian communities in the middle east and in Bethleham and Judea ect? Yes, I would bet their future is tenuous to the extreme. I've also heard that the Gaza is now booze free--i guess Hamas doesn't promise good things for booze being served in Ramalah or the reinvigoration of the old Jericho casino. What I see is a more rapid exodus of nearly all Christians from Judea--a generation will not see a token presence. Any arab living in Judea who opposes Hamas and seeks any sort of even muted coexistance or negotiated settlement with Israel will also leave . . . on that last boat from Shanghai. Instead of sucking up to whatever Arab has the biggest oil drill, perhaps our state department should go about an independent assessment of the plight of the Christians in Judea with emergency plans for flights out if necessary. Assume the worst and you might be pleasantly be surprised, but with this crowd in Hamastan, it is best to be prepared for any eventuality. From the Israeli perspective, this development also paves the way for the emergance of Bibi. Look, as bad as Hamas is, theres Islamic Jihad and now Al Quida in the territories. This place is rife for anything . . . civil war, rocket attacks on israel, suicide attacs on one another, Fatah attacks on Hamas and vica versa . . . welcome to Somalia. It's a good thing Israel built their wall.
By the way, I may be in the minority on this, but I agreed with W's initial pre-911 policy on Israel and the middle east. Keep a wide bearth. No road maps to nowhere, no Condi coddling Abbas, just stay out. Bush was ramroded pre-911 into a more 'even-handed' approach by everybody--daddie, right and left--and then this morphed once again into the neocon vision of democracy bringing the arabs out of their cultural drought. The first rule of medicine is do no harm. I think the pressure is off Bush now. He can say, "lookie, I tried, but we don't negotiate with terrorists . . . I admired Abbas . . . but democracy says the people choose . . . so let Saudi Arabia be the honest broker AND BANKER FINANCING HAMASTAN."
we seem to be moving towards a new Pan arabic state, which will comprise iran. iraq and palestine in one huge sharia ruled Islamic nightmare. Hamas with its strong links to hesbullah, is the start of this alarming trend.
Is this what Bush really wanted?
Impossible to believe that his advisers had not briefed him that any democracy would be instantly destroyed by packs of hyenas sensing the weakness of it all.
Why was Jimmy carter so intent on creating and Islamic Iranic state? and why is Bush now following suit in Iraq?
And will Syria ultimately follow suit?
Does the Us State department prefer such rearangements ?
we seem to be moving towards a new Pan arabic state - posted by Chevalier
The pan-Arabic vision has been shown to be a pipe dream and a failed experiment in the last century. Common ethnicity, to their disappointment, doesn't equate with like-mindedness.
As for a pan-Islamic state, I think the Sunni/Shia divide would stand in the way after a certain point. Tiny minorities like the Alawites, and Ahmaddiya would cease to exist (and the Druze would seek refuge in Israel), with only the two large denominations left to battle it out.
If it came down to Sunni vs. Shia, you'd have the Iran/Iraq Shiite stronghold basically encircled by Sunnis, led by the Wahabbists, on all sides. Militarily, the odds would be in the Sunnis' favor, but I can't imagine the Sunni ever completely subduing the Shia without resorting to a protracted and horrifying genocide. Not that I'd put it past them.
Hamas was elected by the Palestinians, if they want to liberate their lands, why not!
Why they cant enjoy freedom like we enjoy it, like you enjoy it! why we feel that it is too much for them!
If Hamas did something other than their people want, then they are wrong. But if they act according to their people's desires, so WHY NOT!?!
The Wall is now more necessary that never. A Steel Wall is necessary between moslemlands and western. An islamist paradise for muslims. They will hate the islam.
Patience:
What Hamas and the Palestinians want is "the freedom" that the rest of us want, and they are prepared to resort to any means to get what they want. The Hamas Charter, if you take a little time to read it, not only demands the elimination of Israel, it speaks to the total Islamization of any lands that may once have been under Muslim control pursuant to their various invasions of Europe.
For your information, half of Israel's Jewish population are refugees from Muslim countries who fled there after being driven from countries where they had lived for thousands of years. And as for the "Palestinians", many of them are the descendents of Muslims from all over the place -- Turkey, Libya, etc. -- who moved to the region to take advantage of the economic boom that happened when European Jews started to buy up desolate land in the late 1800s/early 1900s and develop the land. After happily selling this otherwise worthless land to the Jews for decades, the Waqf started to get worried that they would lose control of their own peasant classes so they stopped selling land and started to stir up aggression against Jews, notably the massacre that happened in Hebron in the 1920s that resulted in the survivors fleeing.
I have nothing but contempt for fools like you who know virtually nothing but have to toss in your half-cent's worth.
Patience..."Hamas was elected by the Palestinians, if they want to liberate their lands, why not!"
In order to 'liberate' your lands, you have to have some land to liberate. And you have to have some force or persons to liberate from.
A great case can (and has) been made that Hamas and the fake Palestinians, have no land and there is no one to 'liberate' it from. Steal it yes...force the real owners out by murderous activity...ok...but there is nothing there to 'liberate'. Hamas will liberate nothing...the Palestinians will liberate nothing...in the end they will start (continue) sht they cant handle, and will be forced out of business...
Patience, Hitler was also democratically elected and how did this end? With 50 millions humans dead.
well l have one method for Israel to get rid of Hammas.. give them one day to surrender and vacate back to where they want.. those who stay, bomb them to bits!