His grasp of politics is as good as his grasp of geography

It's Mahmoud Al Zahar again, the Foreign Minister of the Hamas government of the Palestinian Authority. Seems like he's setting out to outdo Dan Quayle here:

The foreign minister of the Hamas-led Palestinian government said Tuesday that the European Union was split over withholding aid if Hamas refused to recognize Israel and renounce violence.

Mahmoud Zahar spoke to reporters on the first stop of a tour that will take him to the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Yemen, Sudan and Morocco before he goes on to Iran, China and Malaysia.

He claimed France, Switzerland, Norway and Italy were against withholding aid and were supported in that by Russia.

He's already been getting around quite a bit in his capacity as Foreign Minister. He's just been to a Hamas rally in Damascus, along with Khaled Meshaal, the Damascus based head of Hamas, compared to whom the Palestinian contingent are supposed to be more pragmatic.

Here's some of Mr Al Zahar's pragmatism, aired in an Al Jazeera broadcast of the conference:

Let us renew our commitment not to neglect any of our principles: Palestine in its entirety is our land.

This does not mean that if they withdraw from any inch of land, we will refrain from spreading our rule over it. Every inch of land without relinquishing an inch. This is our goal and our motto. We will never give it up.

Our second principle is that the Right of Return must be guaranteed - to Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa and everywhere.

For his part, Khaled Meshaal supplies a helpfully revealing commentary on the Hamas view of the morality of last week's suicide bomber murders in Tel Aviv:

Brother, does the shame lie with the guy who blows himself up in Tel Aviv, or with someone who goes to eat and get drunk in Tel Aviv?

True, our government does not conduct resistance itself, because there is a distribution of roles - the government governs, while the factions carry out the resistance, but our government is like a large tent, which protects the mujahideen and in it they find refuge.

So that's the reality of the Hamas "truce".

Meshaal also pays tribute to Sheikh Yousuf al Qaradawi, who Ken Livingstone so memorably admires and hugs:

Today, the great scholar, Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, may Allah protect him, said some wonderful things in his Friday sermon. I call upon all scholars to follow in the footsteps of Sheik Al-Qaradhawi. And this is an extract from the very sermon by Al-Qaradhawi which Meshaal is so impressed by: ....and especially our brothers in Fatah, who are very powerful and many... I remind them of their Islamic religious roots, which were based on resistance and Jihad from day one. They announced their motto: "Revolution until victory." I remind Abu Mazen of his oath to Allah from day one - Revolution until victory. I remind them of this. All the attempts to reach what they call peace, but is in fact surrender, are completely futile, and will not get them the slightest thing. [...] The Palestinian people has sacrificed its blood. It has easily sacrificed its souls, for the sake of its cause, its religion, and its homeland. Should we not give them money? The Jews throughout the world - despite their well-known stinginess, miserliness, and selfishness, and despite their worship of gold... The Jews contributed generously to the Jewish state, before and after its establishment, and they are still contributing to this day. Shouldn't the Arabs and Muslims contribute for their sacred cause? [...] According to Islam, any land invaded by the enemy, even if it is only a small piece of land - it is the duty of its people to defend it. If they cannot or are remiss in this, it becomes the duty of their neighbors - and so on, until it includes all the Muslims of the world. I believe that the Muslims throughout the world have become responsible for the liberation of Palestine and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Comments

[Neal]

Judy,

Your post explains in rather clear terms why, during this period of religious revival among Muslims, there can and will be no peace, for Israel or anyone else. I might also note that if you hunt a bit, you will find that HAMAS considers Spain to be no different than Israel. Or, as you quote Sheik Al-Qaradhawi above:

According to Islam, any land invaded by the enemy, even if it is only a small piece of land - it is the duty of its people to defend it. If they cannot or are remiss in this, it becomes the duty of their neighbors - and so on, until it includes all the Muslims of the world. I believe that the Muslims throughout the world have become responsible for the liberation of [fill in the blank].

When my children were small, I use to post something called Children's Property Laws on my refrigerator. Among the laws are these: "If I have ever touched it, it is mine." "If it was ever mine, it is mine." "If it is mine, it must never in any way even appear to be yours." We should re-name these laws Al-Qaradhawi Laws of Property.