Despite New Charter, Hamas Founder Clarifies Goal is Still to Destroy Israel -
Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar clarified Wednesday that his terror group's new political program, which some interpreted as accepting the idea of a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines, would not preclude Hamas from seeking to liberate all of historic Palestine, including Israel.
"If we liberate Palestine though the resistance until the 1967 borders, we will go directly to liberate the rest of Palestine and the territories of 1948, and there will be no negotiations," Zahar said at a conference in Gaza addressing international reactions to the new policy document, according to the Hamas-linked al-Resalah news site.
Zahar was likely responding to hardline critics of Hamas's new program, such as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
"As partners with our Hamas brothers in the struggle for liberation, we feel concern over the document," Islamic Jihad's deputy leader, Ziad al-Nakhala, said Saturday.
"We are opposed to Hamas's acceptance of a state within the 1967 borders and we think this is a concession which damages our aims," he said in a statement on Islamic Jihad's website.
On Wednesday Zahar stressed that Hamas was not walking back its original principals, asserting, "If Hamas liberated 99.9% of the land of Palestine, it will not give up on the rest."
Zahar was likely responding to hardline critics of Hamas's new program, such as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
"As partners with our Hamas brothers in the struggle for liberation, we feel concern over the document," Islamic Jihad's deputy leader, Ziad al-Nakhala, said Saturday.
"We are opposed to Hamas's acceptance of a state within the 1967 borders and we think this is a concession which damages our aims," he said in a statement on Islamic Jihad's website.
On Wednesday Zahar stressed that Hamas was not walking back its original principals, asserting, "If Hamas liberated 99.9% of the land of Palestine, it will not give up on the rest."
Turkey's Erdogan lashes 'racist' Israel, calls for Muslims to flood Temple Mount -
Turkish president warns against moving US embassy to Jerusalem; slams mosque-muffling bill; Israel rejects his 'baseless slander'
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday urged Muslims to throng to the Temple Mount in a show of solidarity with Palestinians as he issued a string of challenges to Israel, which he called "racist and discriminatory."
"We, as Muslims, should be visiting Al-Quds more often," he said, referring to Jerusalem by its Arabic name.
"Each day that Jerusalem is under occupation is an insult to us," he added, at the opening ceremony of the International Forum on al-Quds Waqf in Istanbul, Turkey's Hurriyet news reported.
Erdogan said increased Muslim visits to the Jerusalem holy site "would be the greatest support to our brothers there."
"Both in terms of our religion and historical responsibility, Al-Quds and the fight of our Palestinian brothers for rights and justice is of great importance to us. We will keep making efforts for Quds to turn into a city of peace," Erdogan said.
In the blistering speech, which also criticized Israeli legislation and US plans to move their embassy to Jerusalem, Erdogan also called Israel's treatment of the Palestinians "racist and discriminatory" and said the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip "has no place in humanity."
Israel blockades the Strip in an attempt to keep weapons from reaching the Strip's Hamas terrorist rulers.
Israel reacted quickly and angrily to Erdogan's comments, calling them "baseless slander."
"Anyone who systemically violates human rights in their own country, should not preach about morality to the only democracy in the region," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"Israel strictly adheres to protecting full freedom of worship for Jews, Muslims and Christians - and will continue to do so despite this baseless slander," the statement said.
Erdogan also warned Israel against the planned Muezzin Bill meant to limit the volume on Muslim calls to prayer, saying he would not allow mosque loudspeakers to be silenced.
"The fact that such an issue is even coming to the agenda is shameful," he said. "The fact that those who talk about freedom of thought and faith at every opportunity actually approve this step by remaining silent is noteworthy. Inshallah, we will not allow the silencing of prayers from the heavens of Jerusalem," Erdogan said.
Israel is pushing a bill that would ban religious institutions from using loudspeakers at certain hours, a move seen as targeting Muslim mosques who issue a pre-dawn call to prayer.
Critics say the bill is anti-Muslim, but proponents say it is about noise control and quality of life for people who live near mosques.
But Erdogan issued a challenge to Israel, saying that to move against the mosques would be a strike against freedom of religion.
"Why are you afraid of the freedom of faith if you believe in your faith? I am now reminding Israeli administrators: If you believe in your faith, then why are you afraid of the sound of our prayers?" he said.
Erdogan also spoke about the debates over the possibility of moving the US embassy In Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, saying they are "extremely wrong" and should be dropped.
US President Donald Trump had promised during his campaign to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, whose status is one of the thorniest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Erdogan said everyone should be careful on issues that concerned the status of Jerusalem, warning that even "relocating a stone" in the city could have serious implications.
"The debates over the possibility of US moving its Israel embassy to Jerusalem are extremely wrong and should certainly drop from the agenda," the Turkish president said.
Fatah Official to Hamas: We're A Bigger Enemy Of Israel - by Ali Waked -
Jibril Rajoub, a member of the central committee of Fatah, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' movement, lashed out at Hamas in a television interview with the al-Quds network, saying that Fatah is Israel's greatest enemy and not Hamas.
"Don't preach to us for recognizing Israel and that your weapon is a weapon of resistance," said Rajoub. "We care more about you and your pride than what you think. We are patriots."
Rajoub, who also serves as chief of the Palestinian Football Association and the Palestine Olympic Committee, continued his criticism of Hamas, saying, "You are in no situation to teach Abu Mazen (PA President Mahmoud Abbas) or the Fatah movement."
The Palestinian official addressed the ultimatum delivered to Israel by Abu Obaida, a spokesperson for Hamas' military wing, regarding the demands of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. The ultimatum threatened that Hamas would expand by 30 the list of Palestinian prisoners for whom it demands release - one prisoner for every day Israel refuses to accept the demands of the hunger strikers.
Rajoub smirked at the ultimatum and said, "What happened that the Al Qassam Brigades threatened Israel? Unfortunately, we're seeing that they're harsh with us and merciful (with the Israelis). The Fatah movement is the one that taught you what struggle means and what political maturity is. Who are you? Who are you?"
"In everything regarding the struggle, we are your superiors. Don't forget your history. From '67 until '87 you were running in chains after the students," continued Rajoub, criticizing Hamas' leadership for refusing to support and even working to thwart a strike at schools and universities announced by Fatah in the 1980s, before the first Intifada of 1987.
Rajoub continued to preach to Hamas about the struggle against Israel, reminding Hamas that "Israel's greatest enemy is the Fatah movement. Some of you didn't even pray before 1989."
Tensions between Fatah and Hamas have been on the rise over the last few weeks due to the PA's decision to stop transferring funds to pay its employees living in the Gaza Strip, who haven't been performing their duties since Hamas took control of the area in 2007. The move was made as part of the PA's campaign to put pressure on Hamas to return control of the Strip.
In addition, the PA announced that it would stop transferring payments for the electricity provided by the Israeli electric corporation to the Gaza Strip, claiming that Hamas hasn't been handing over payments made by Gaza residents, worsening the electric crisis in the enclave.
The PA's decisions led to the two sides blaming each other for the situation, with Hamas accusing the PA of treating Gaza residents like hostages.
As part of the escalation between the two sides, Hamas responded to Abbas' meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump last week with the claim that Abbas has no authority to represent the Palestinian people or negotiate on its behalf. Hamas spokesperson Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri promised that the movement would reject all of Abbas' proposals.
Palestinians Use Deception for Greater Acceptance - By Noah Beck -
The two main political groups that claim to represent Palestinians - the Islamist terror group Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) - have embarked on new campaigns of deception in order to gain greater international acceptance.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas met with President Donald Trump last week to discuss the peace process. He blatantly lied throughout his public remarks.
Speaking before Abbas, Trump said that "there cannot be lasting peace unless the Palestinian leaders speak in a unified voice against incitement to...violence and hate...All children of God must be taught to value and respect human life, and condemn all of those who target the innocent."
Abbas then made statements that seemed intended to allay Trump's fears: "I affirm to you that we are raising our youth, our children, our grandchildren on a culture of peace," Abbas said. "And we are endeavoring to bring about security, freedom and peace for our children to live like the other children in the world, along with the Israeli children in peace, freedom and security."
Apparently anticipating that Abbas would promote such falsehoods to Trump and the American public, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared a video on his Facebook page exposing the extent of Abbas' lies. The video montage shows several examples of Palestinian incitement to violence - including by Abbas himself - and the indoctrination of children to hate and attack Jews.
"Our strategic choice is to bring about peace based on the vision of the two-state," Abbas declared alongside Trump. "A Palestinian state with its capital of East Jerusalem that lives in peace and stability with the state of Israel based on the borders of 1967." But Netanyahu's video shows Palestinian children being taught that "Palestine is an Arab land from the river to the sea," effectively brainwashing them to reject the territorial compromise required by the two-state solution Abbas claims to accept.
That anti-peace, anti-Israel message extends far beyond the classroom. "Every grain of soil in Palestine is ours... Haifa, and Jaffa, and Acre," (all cities in Israel), Najeh Bakirat, a religious leader and the head of the Waqf's Al-Aqsa Academy of Heritage and Antiquities said last June. "Therefore it is forbidden to relinquish a single grain of its soil," Bakirat continued, in his remarks titled "Palestine in the Quran," which were broadcast on official PA TV.
While the Fatah-affiliated PA likes to present itself as more moderate than Hamas, its rejection of Israel is essentially the same. "The Fatah Movement never demanded that Hamas recognize Israel," said Fatah Central Committee member and Commissioner of Treasury and Economy Muhammad Shtayyeh, on official Palestinian Authority TV last March. "To this moment, Fatah does not recognize Israel. The topic of recognition of Israel has not been raised in any of Fatah's conferences."
Abbas also didn't let truth get in the way of his breathtakingly false statement, made before Trump and the U.S. media, that the Palestinians "are the only remaining people in the world that still live under occupation." The Tibetans, Kurds, and Cypriots are just a few of the many groups who would disagree.
Trump "raised concerns about the payments to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who have committed acts of terror," said White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. But a senior PA official rejected the idea as "insane," claiming that PA payments to imprisoned terrorists are like salaries paid to IDF soldiers. Just days before Abbas met Trump, senior Fatah leader Rawhi Fattouh even argued that donor countries should welcome PA payments to terrorists because this practice promotes peace by keeping the Palestinian terrorists from joining "ISIS or any other extremist party."
A few weeks before the Trump-Abbas meeting, the Palestinian Information Center called Tel-Aviv a "settlement" in a tweet, implying that even Israel's commercial capital - considered well within Israel proper by international consensus - should be part of a future Palestine. Josh Block, head of The Israel Project, uncovered the tweet, which was released on Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Palestinian Information Center tweet referred to the "so-called Holocaust."
The other major Palestinian faction, the Islamist terror group Hamas, has also launched a new campaign of deception to improve its fortunes - this one targeting Muslim powers. Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal unveiled a "document of general policy principles" at a press conference last Monday that appeared to moderate its anti-Semitic and genocidal charter. But, as journalist and Mideast expert Avi Issacharoff reported, it included no substantive changes (as confirmed in this more detailed analysis) and was designed merely to improve "public relations during one of the terror group's lowest points."
"Gulf states are closing the funding taps one by one and income from inside Gaza is dropping," Issacharoff wrote. "It is for this reason that the need arose to present a 'friendlier face' to the world via this document of principles." Issacharoff calls it "a masterful example of verbal acrobatics in the Arabic language ... There is no direct call to eradicate the state of Israel, but recognition of the Jewish State is prohibited and liberated Palestine is to stretch from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea."
The Israeli government swiftly dismissed Hamas' charter revisions: "the group is trying to delude the world but it won't succeed," said a Netanyahu spokesman. "It builds terror tunnels and launches rockets - that's the true Hamas."
Hamas also is trying to win hearts and minds in the European Union, which designated the Hamas military and political wings as a terrorist group in 2001 and 2003, respectively. As Issacharoff reports elsewhere, throughout Europe Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood have created a network of schools, mosques, charities and other civil organizations. That network includes "student associations in every well-known university in Europe. Recently, Muslim 'human rights' groups have been established that work to strengthen support for the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas." Issacharoff notes that Britain is "hosting more of this semi-official activity by Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood than any other country in Europe."
Despite the EU's terror designation, Hamas also has a foothold in Germany, which reportedly harbors some 300 "members and supporters" of Hamas (along with 900 members of Hezbollah "activists and members").
Its verbal and organizational deceptions aside, Hamas' actions confirm that nothing has changed about the group's bloodthirsty, fanatical, and cynical nature. Last month, the group used a girl with cancer to smuggle explosives into Israel for a future terror attack.
Hamas accuses Abbas of "crimes against humanity" for his refusal to pay for Gaza's electricity as part of Fatah's struggle to regain control of Gaza. But Gaza's water and power crises are a direct result of Hamas' corruption, mismanagement, and diversion of humanitarian funds for terrorist purposes. Nearly three years after Hamas launched its disastrous 2014 war with Israel, thousands of homes damaged in the conflict - estimated at 60 percent of the total - remain unrepaired because of Hamas policies. Hamas has proven repeatedly that its commitment to jihad against Israel matters more than the welfare of the people it rules.
So when Abbas or Hamas appear to be moderating for an audience with President Trump or others from whom support is sought, the focus should be on deeds, rather than words.
'Abbas has decided to sign peace deal with Israel' -- Is the Daniel 9:27 final-day peace deal in the works? - Yaakov Katz -
Trump planning to launch new round of talks during his upcoming visit.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has crossed the Rubicon and voiced "unprecedented" readiness to reach a peace deal with Israel, sources close to the efforts to renew talks between Israel and the Palestinians have told The Jerusalem Post.
Abbas, according to the sources, made this clear to President Donald Trump during their meeting at the White House last week. The president plans to use his trip to Israel later this month to receive assurances from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he, too, is committed to a peace agreement.
Since his meeting with Trump last week, Abbas has changed his rhetoric, issuing a number of statements meant to reflect flexibility on previous demands. He has, for example, said that he would renew the talks under Trump's auspices without preconditions. In the past, he had said he would not negotiate with Netanyahu without a freeze to settlement construction.
He has also sent his advisers to the press to declare that the Palestinians are prepared to negotiate land swaps with Israel, a recognition that some West Bank settlements will remain part of Israel in the framework of a future deal.
Netanyahu, on the other hand, has largely remained quiet. The strategy within the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem seems to be to wait and hope not to be blamed for preventing the success of the peace talks Trump is planning to restart following his visit on May 22.
As reported earlier this week in Maariv and the Post, the person responsible for this change in Abbas is Ronald Lauder, the American billionaire and head of the World Jewish Congress, who is one of the closest people to Trump. Lauder has publicly said that he has known Trump for over 50 years and that he is a "great and true friend" of Israel.
Before Abbas met with Trump last week, he stopped by Lauder's house for dinner and got briefed on ways to win over the president. To some, it seems that Lauder has bypassed Sheldon Adelson as the most influential Jew in Trump's circle.
Lauder has been pushing for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal for years and was in Cairo two months ago for a meeting with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ahead of the Egyptian leader's visit to the White House. Lauder, sources say, seems to have been tapped by the president as something of a semi-official envoy to the region with an emphasis on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Politicians who spoke to Lauder at Sunday's Jerusalem Post Conference in New York later told the Post that he told them about his meeting with Abbas. At the same time, Netanyahu told confidants that he was furious over the American Jewish leader's involvement.
"You don't understand how much influence he has over Trump," the prime minister told a confidant in a private conversation this week.
"Out of the people around Trump, he is my biggest challenge to overcome."
Hamas assures critics Israel's destruction still its goal - By Dov Lieber -
Rejecting push-back over new policy paper, group's co-founder says 'no negotiations' over right to all of historic Palestine
Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar clarified Wednesday that his terror group's new political program, which some interpreted as accepting the idea of a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines, would not preclude Hamas from seeking to liberate all of historic Palestine, including Israel.
"If we liberate Palestine though the resistance until the 1967 borders, we will go directly to liberate the rest of Palestine and the territories of 1948, and there will be no negotiations," Zahar said at a conference in Gaza addressing international reactions to the new policy document, according to the Hamas-linked al-Resalah news site.
Zahar was likely responding to hardline critics of Hamas's new program, such as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
"As partners with our Hamas brothers in the struggle for liberation, we feel concern over the document," Islamic Jihad's deputy leader, Ziad al-Nakhala, said Saturday.
"We are opposed to Hamas's acceptance of a state within the 1967 borders and we think this is a concession which damages our aims," he said in a statement on Islamic Jihad's website.
On Wednesday Zahar stressed that Hamas was not walking back its original principals, asserting, "If Hamas liberated 99.9% of the land of Palestine, it will not give up on the rest."
He added: "We cannot religiously, morally or nationally give up on one inch of the land of Palestine."
Hamas, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by Israel, the US and the EU, adopted the new document on May 1 in an attempt to improve its standing in the international community.
The document, however, contains glaring contradictions.
It accepts the idea of a Palestinian state in territories captured by Israel in the Six Day War of 1967 but simultaneously reiterates the imperative to destroy Israel. It also dismisses the establishment of the State of Israel as "illegal," asserting a Palestinian claim to the entire Land of Israel, and a so-called right of return for all descendants of refugees. It also reserves the right to wage "resistance and jihad for the liberation of Palestine."
Israel has dismissed the new document as an attempt to "fool the world."
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