Remember: a hudna is in Islamic law only a temporary truce to allow the Muslims to gather strength. “Islamic Jihad head: We may recognize the State of Israel,” from Haaretz, with thanks to Eschwapp:
An Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank, Abdel Halim Izzedine, known as Abu Qassam, told Haaretz that his organization supports the hudna – cease-fire – but is forced to respond to Israeli provocations.
“Israel forces us to react. If Israel stops the assassinations and arrests, we will observe the hudna,” he said, adding that if a young Palestinian were to approach him and tell him he was on his way to carry out a suicide attack, he would try to dissuade him.
In his first interview with an Israeli news arm, Abu Qassam said his organization might recognize the State of Israel.
“If Islamic Jihad participates in the Palestinian Authority, and the PA reaches a settlement with Israel, this will be recognition on our part. Not official recognition, but recognition,” he said.
What’s that supposed to mean? “We recognize that we must destroy you”?
Abu Qassam further says that an unreconcilable chasm separates his movement’s ideology from Zionist ideology. However, just as Zionist ideology is beginning to give up parts of the Land of Israel, so his organization would be willing to give up parts of its ideology calling for an Islamic state from the river to the sea.
“Each one will keep its ideology in its heart,” he said. Abu Qassam said negotiations between his organization and Israel were a possibility, one he had rejected until now. He called the disengagement plan a “security program designed only to minimize damage for Israel, not to enable Palestinian independence,” adding, “we will not wait for the occupation to leave.”