Hamas does not recognise Israel and will not make peace with Israel. Hamas has never given up their intention of destroying Israel, and no authorised spokesperson made any statement to the contrary, despite ambiguous press reports. After a Reuters story claimed that Khaled Meshaal had agreed to recognise Israel, the claim was quickly denied by Hamas:

One hour after the Reuters interview was published, the Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad told Haaretz that Meshal said, "Israel exists - and that's a fact."
 
However, Hamad maintained that Meshal did not say anything about recognising Israel. "There was no change in our stance that Hamas does not recognise Israel," he said.

Salah Bardawil, head of Hamas's parliamentary faction, told Haaretz that after checking with Meshal, it seems to be that his words were twisted and distorted.

"He didn't speak about any recognition of Israel, only a cease-fire with Israel," Bardawil said.

In a meeting with former US President Carter, Meshaal himself later insisted, in so many words, that Hamas would not recognise Israel.

The Quartet is a body that includes the UN, the United States, Russia and the EU. Quartet conditions for lifting the aid embargo against the Hamas are: recognition of Israel, commitment to non-violence and acceptance of previous agreements. The Quartet has not rescinded the embargo against Hamas, and therefore we can conclude that Hamas have not met the conditions.

The Hamas Charter, which has not been abrogated, states:

"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim 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. "

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."

Given that destruction of Israel is a religious principle, embodied in the Hamas charter, it is hard to imagine how or why anyone thinks Hamas have given up this goal, if they have not abrogated their charter or declared their apostasy. When the rabbis declare that pork is kosher, and the Imams of Al-Azhar declare that pork is Halal, then Hamas can make peace with Israel.

Hamas will not make peace or cease fire if Israel withdraws to 1967 borders - Hamas will not even grant a cease-fire if Israel withdraws to 1967 borders. In his meeting with Jimmy Carter, Khaled Meshaal stated:

"We agree on the [Palestinian] state with the borders of June 4, 1967, Jerusalem as its capital, fully sovereign without settlements, the right of return, but without the recognition of Israel."

. Hamas will "accept" a Palestinian state under those conditions, without making peace. But the conditions include return of the 1948 refugees, their descendants and foreign spouses to Israel, which would mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state. Therefore, the offer is meaningless even as a cease fire condition.

Hamas is a branch of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood - Hamas declares in its charter that they are part of the world-wide Islamist radical network. The Hamas Charter states:

The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a universal organization which constitutes the largest Islamic movement in modern times

. As Hamas itself proudly declares its membership in the Muslim Brotherhood, it is hard to understand why people think this "claim" is "Zionist propaganda."

Hamas is part of the worldwide radical Islamist movement, and its ambitions are not necessarily limited to Israel. In a sermon aired on Hamas' Al-Aqsa television in 2008, cleric Yunis Al Astal stated,

"Today, Rome is the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital, which has declared its hostility to Islam, and has planted the brothers of apes and pigs in Palestine in order to prevent the reawakening of Islam.

"I believe that our children, or our grandchildren, will inherit our jihad and our sacrifices, and, Allah willing, the commanders of the conquest will come from among them"

He maintained that Rome would become, ""an advanced post for the Islamic conquests, which will spread though Europe in its entirety, and then will turn to the two Americas, even Eastern Europe."


Hamas is a racist and genocidal movement - The Hamas Charter states:


, the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Muslim).

In the above, the Hamas tells us in so many words that it strives to realize the "promise" to kill all the Jews.

The Hamas Charter states:

"After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates, Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying."

There is no real evidence that Hamas positions on the Jewish question have changed. Sheik Yunus al-Astal, a Hamas legislator and imam, stated in 2008: :

, we are sure that the Holocaust is still to come upon the Jews.


Given the above, it is utterly astounding that some evidently deluded people believe that the the best way to support peace is to support the Hamas movement. That is their problem. A separate post will deal with the genesis of the present crisis and the reasons for the Israeli operation in Gaza.

Ami Isseroff