Say, Karl Vick, are you SURE Hamas is moderating? I’m thinking that Karl Vick (rhymes with “dick”) ((cf. Time Magazine’s infamous “Menachem Begin*” (rhymes with “Fagin”) issue)) is, well, wrong about Hamas becoming more moderate due to its dealings with the Palestinian Authority. Why do I think that? Hm. Let’s think. Oh, right. Because the head of Hamas, during the Hamas anniversary celebration, said this:
“The armed resistance and the armed struggle are our only choice to liberate the land, to liberate all of Palestine from the sea to the river and expel the invaders,” Ismail Haniyeh, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, told the crowd. He was referring to the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.
I really like the way the Bloomberg News reporter put in the explanation of which sea and which river. It’s very helpful to people like Karl Vick (rhymes with “dick”), who seem unable to interpret words like “armed struggle” and “armed resistance” as, well, non-peaceful things.
Even more suspicious: The Jerusalem Post quoted Haniyeh on the “liberation” of Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa Mosque. For those of you who may not know where that is (just in case Karl Vick needs a little brushing up), that mosque is built directly on top of the Temple Mount complex–Judaism’s holiest site.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday called for the formation of an Arab army “to liberate Jerusalem and the Aksa Mosque very soon.”
Huh. An Arab army. Whoever could they mean? The new Islamist governments joining Hamas, perhaps?
I’m so glad Hamas is “edging closer to the mainstream” (the headline on Vick’s piece). Why, he all but declared Hamas to coming to an end of violence.
But in the Gaza Strip where it governs, Hamas has largely enforced a truce with Israel since January 2009. And in Cairo it signed a paper committing itself to “popular resistance” against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. That’s “popular” in contrast to “violent” or “military” resistance. We’re talking marches here. Chanting and signs, not booby traps or suicide bombs.
And yet, Khaled Abu Toameh, writing in the Post, quotes Ismail Haniyeh as not wanting to chant and wave signs at all.
Addressing tens of thousands of supporters during a rally in Gaza City marking the 24th anniversary of the founding of Hamas, Haniyeh said his movement remained committed to armed struggle as a strategic option to liberate “all the occupied Palestinian territories,” and that Hamas, “together with all the free peoples, will lead the fight to liberate all Palestine.”
Oh, yeah–Hamas also released statistics on the number of attacks on Israel, the number of Israelis they killed, and the number of Hamas members killed by Israel. Yep. That is one peace-loving organization. Interestingly, Karl Vick is so far silent on the Hamas rally. I’m on absolute pins and needles to see what Vick says about his theory that Hamas is ready to sit down and sing Kumbayah with Israel.
*Had Ronald Reagan instead of Menachem Begin originally. Oops.
If Vick (rhymes with sick) knew anything about the subject he purports to write about, he would understand that “popular” does not mean “peaceful” in Arab terrorist circles (or most leftwing circle either, for that matter; look at the popularity of that old murderer Che Guevara).
Hamas is not edging closer to the mainstream. The mainstream, with the dominance of the Islamists where dictators are being overthrown, is edging closer to Hamas.