Saturday, September 30, 2006

Hamas Spells It Out

Hat tip to Jihad Watch-

On Friday, Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters held a peaceful rally in Gaza to denounce the state of Israel and declare that they would never recognize its right to exist.

"We ask God to punish the so-called Israel and the allies of Israel and to punish those who recognize Israel and those who called on us to recognize Israel," Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri told the crowd that thronged the Jabalya refugee camp.

"We vow to God that we will never recognise Israel even if we would be all killed," Masri told the cheering audience of men, women and children, many of whom were wearing green Hamas baseball caps and held aloft Hamas banners.

Masri, a popular young lawmaker, also aimed criticism at Fatah, a rival movement headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, saying it was trying to pressure Hamas, which now runs the Palestinian government, into recognizing Israel.

"Those people are demanding of us openly to recognize the occupation and that will never happen," Masri said.

Hamas and Fatah have held talks in recent weeks over the possibility of forming a unity government, but those negotiations now appear to have almost completely broken down.

"The protest aims to stress our rejection to recognize the legitimacy of the occupation," Masri said, referring to what Hamas views as Israel's occupation of all of what is calls historic Palestine.


So much for the moderating effect of Hamas coming to power.

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