Even if Hamas has renounced violence, which I seriously doubt, it has not renounced jihad or Sharia. In other words, it still has the same goal — the total destruction of Israel — but it may just be going about it through different means. And so it should not be regarded any differently from how it is regarded now. Yet this relatively simple point consistently eludes the grasp of American and European policymakers. “Abbas says Hamas is not terrorist group,” from UPI, March 17 (thanks to Maxwell):
MOSCOW, March 17 (UPI) — Hamas is committed to peaceful resistance and there is no need to label it a terrorist organization, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said.
In an exclusive weekend interview with Russia Today, the Palestinian president responded to reports that the European Union is considering taking Hamas off the list of terrorist organizations.
“Chances are quite high that the Hamas government may be recognized as legitimate. If Hamas is committed to the cease-fire and if it openly pledges to stick to the peaceful popular resistance, I don’t see much difference between their policy and ours. In this case, there is no need to label them as a terrorist organization,” Abbas said….