Clothing, feeding and harboring terrorists? Not what Americans used to think it meant

...QUESTION: -- they’re hosting and seem to be willing and happy to host the leader of a group that you deem a foreign terrorist organization. So is Hamas somehow less bad than other – other groups that are on the FTO list?

Head of the terrorist organization, Hamas,
Khaled Mashaal, on one of several visits
to Turkey, with the Turkish leader Erdogan
[Image Source]

Arnold/Frimet Roth..
This Ongoing War..
10 January '15..

For Americans, and for those of us hoping to see the US show some spine in the face of terrorism's expanding frontiers, this depressing exchange below from Thursday's Daily Press Briefing at the State Department in Washington DC is worth filing away and remembering. ["Ms. Psaki" refers to the spokesperson for the United States Department of State, Jennifer Psaki, who served previously as spokesperson for President Barack Obama. "Matt", who asks the questions, is probably Matt Lee who covers the State Department for Associated Press.]

QUESTION: -- Turkey, the Turkish foreign minister has said that the leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, is welcome in Turkey anytime he wants to – any time he wants to go. Do you have any thoughts about that, given the fact that he is --

MS. PSAKI: I spoke to this a little bit yesterday, but it wasn’t asked in the exact same way. Our position on Hamas has not changed. Hamas is a designated foreign terrorist organization that continues to engage in terrorist activity and demonstrate its intentions during the summer’s conflict in – with Israel. We continue to raise our concerns about the relationship between Hamas and Turkey with senior Turkish officials, including after learning of Meshaal’s recent visit there. And we have urged the Government of Turkey to press Hamas to reduce tensions and prevent violence.

QUESTION: Well, I mean, is there any – I mean, I don’t get it. This guy is the leader of a terrorist organization. If Ayman Zawahiri showed up in Turkey, would you have a similar muted response? I mean --

MS. PSAKI: I don’t think that’s a muted response. Obviously, we look at each situation case by case.

QUESTION: Well, this is a NATO ally and they seem to be --

MS. PSAKI: Yes.

QUESTION: -- they’re hosting and seem to be willing and happy to host the leader of a group that you deem a foreign terrorist organization. So is Hamas somehow less bad than other – other groups that are on the FTO list?

(Continue)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work as well as a big vote to follow our good friend Kay Wilson on Twitter, 
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Why Hamas Feels So at Home in Turkey - A Marriage Made in Heaven

...Thirty-four years ago, the people of Konya had to take to the streets to shout "Death to the Jew," wave Palestinian flags and chant all possible Quranic slogans -- and clash with the military for doing it. Today, they enjoy the Islamist ritual at the regional congress of the country's ruling party, with "a son of their city" running the show from the seat of the prime minister. Thirty-four years ago, their hearts and minds were united with their Palestinian brothers, but a public "Jerusalem meeting" could earn them a jail sentence. Today, failing to stand by the "Palestinian cause" could earn someone a jail sentence, if not a good public beating. Sadly, this is how democracy has evolved in Turkey.

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was given a hero's
welcome by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu last month.

Burak Bekdil..
MEF/The Gatestone Institute..
01 January '15..


In the heat of August 1980, Necmettin Erbakan, leader of the now-defunct National Salvation Party and founding father of political Islam in Turkey, published two articles, "Jerusalem and Zionism," and "Anarchy and Zionism." In the latter, he likened Zionism to an "octopus with numberless arms." Some of those arms were "communism, capitalism, freemasonry and racism."

Before that, in much of the 1970s, Turkey had been captured by political violence. It had killed on average a dozen people each day in clashes mainly between ultra left- and ultra right-wing militants.

The sole source of anarchy and chaos in Turkey, Erbakan then wrote, was Zionism.

Shortly after the publication of Erbakan's articles, on Sept. 6, 1980, his party organized the infamous "Jerusalem meeting" in the central Anatolian city of Konya, an Islamist stronghold to this day. Thousands, including children, shouted "Death to the Jew" and marched through the city. Six days after the demonstration, the military staged a coup d'état. The generals not only wanted to crush warring extremists, but also religious fundamentalists.

Little has changed in Konya's political demographics since the 1980 coup. It still boasts being the center of Turkish political Islam even though, ironically, the city's name is a Turkish distortion of its original medieval Greek name "Ikonion." This August, three-quarters of residents of Konya voted for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who became the president of the country, with 51.5% of the nationwide vote. Like most of Turkey's cabinet ministers and ruling MPs, Erdogan comes from the ranks of Erbakan's school of political Islam.

But these days Konya is even more loudly proud of one of "its own sons." Former Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Erdogan's choice, was elected party leader and prime minister this summer.

Last weekend, Davutoglu gathered a regional party congress in his native Konya, where enthusiastic locals and party loyalists called him "a true grandson of the Ottomans."

The party congress looked like any other congress of the ruling Justice and Development party [AKP]: a fawning crowd, cheering, singing and shouting pro-Davutoglu (and pro-Erdogan) slogans, and waving Turkish and Palestinian flags. But there was more.

Davutoglu's guest of honor at the party congress in Konya was Khaled Mashaal, head of Hamas's political bureau and the darling of Messrs Erdogan and Davutoglu -- a feeling that is apparently not unrequited.

Why Would You Back a Group Committed to Murder?

...These actions were not related to or motivated by specific Israeli policies or settlements but a desire to fulfill Hamas’s genocidal covenant that calls for the destruction of Israel and the massacre and/or eviction of its Jewish population. Those are cold hard facts that those seeking to support “Free Gaza” on the streets and in the media should think about.

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary Magazine..
24 August '14..

In the wake of the horrifying filmed murder of journalist James Foley, the international community seems to be united behind efforts, however disjointed and perhaps insufficient, to stop ISIS. Yet at the same time, many of the same voices as well as much of the Western diplomatic corps seems intent on saving another terror group in Hamas which revolves as much around murder as does that of ISIS.

It must be conceded that a lot of the protests and the diplomatic efforts aimed at propping up Hamas are generated by sympathy for the people of Gaza. The residents of the strip ruled by the Islamist group have suffered terribly as a result of the war that Hamas launched this summer and still refuses to end as they reject and violate each cease-fire deal offered them.

But the agitation to “Free Gaza” being heard on the streets of Western cities and in the media isn’t focused on freeing Gaza from Hamas but in support of the group’s demands that the international blockade of the strip. While that might make it a little easier for humanitarian assistance to reach the Palestinians (though it is often forgotten that Israel has sent convoys with such aid across the border and evacuated the wounded from Gaza every day during the conflict), everyone knows the main impact of easing the restrictions on the strip would be to help Hamas replenish its arsenal and to rebuild its command centers, bunkers and terror tunnels.

Thus, the American initiative to re-start the stalled cease-fire talks in Gaza by involving Hamas allies Turkey and Qatar can have only one possible outcome: a new deal that would allow the terror group to exact concessions from Israel and Egypt. Those pressuring Israel to cease defending its people against the incessant rocket fire on its cities from Gaza aren’t so much helping the Palestinian people as they are empowering Hamas to go on shooting and killing.

This is a key point for those expressing anger at Israel counter-attacks on Hamas should remember. Hamas’s goal isn’t to force Israel to leave the West Bank or to negotiate a peace deal offering the Palestinians an independent state. Israel has already offered the Palestinians such deals a number of times only to have the more moderate Fatah and the Palestinian Authority turned them down.

Rather, as recent events have made clear, Hamas’s only strategy now is to kill as many Jews as possible.

Hamastine: A Present from the U.N.

Amin Farouk..
Gatestone Institute..
24 December '12..

In a field near the Islamic University -- where PhD theses are written on topics such as "The role of the Muslim mother in preparing her sons to be shaheeds [martyrs] of the resistance" -- the Gaza Strip stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and the other terrorist organizations, a large outdoor rally was recently held to glorify, celebrate and promote anti-Semitism and genocide.

There were 2,500 in attendance: representatives from the Islamic countries, representatives from the West Bank, terrorist operatives who had been released from Israeli jails, and a Fatah delegation.

On stage was an enormous model of an M-75 rocket, which opened to reveal terrorist leader Khaled Mashaal and his entourage, who marched out to bask in Gazan adulation. Israeli cut-ups joked that he had recruited an entire Gazan kindergarten as human shields to protect him from an Israeli attack. Next to him stood his deputy, Musa Abu Marzuq, who, like Egyptian Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, has a couple of American university degrees in his quiver.

Raising his fists to make his intentions absolutely clear, and repeatedly slashing his hand up and down to emphasize a point, Mashaal did not mince words: he roused his cheering audience by calling for the destruction of Israel. With engaging frankness he revealed Hamas's agenda, honed by him and his fellow Muslim Brothers: he pointed to the rocket behind him and bragged about the "rain of missiles" the Gazan terrorist organizations had launched on Israeli civilians, especially in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, is located. He called for the annihilation of the Jews and the destruction of their homeland, for the continuation of rocket fire and terrorist attacks, for the abduction of IDF soldiers, and for the "return" of the Palestinian refugees, and for jihad until the "liberation" of all "Palestine." Ironically, while he was preaching genocide of the Jews in Israel, he was accusing the Jews in Israel of "racism."

Mashaal appealed to the masses in the Gaza Strip, and around the globe, with his familiar theme: hatred of the Jews. He trotted out the politically correct European version of anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, claiming that Hamas was not fighting the Jews but wanted to exterminate "only" the "Zionists" -- "only" the six million Jews in Israel. It was a moment reminiscent of Hitler's final attempt to wipe out all the Jews of Europe: Mashaal, standing next to the ruins of Hamas's offices -- the Gaza Strip's Reichstag - calling for the murder of Jews.

Yes, the 3rd Intifada Has Begun

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
17 December '12..

(Aside from our personal experience on Sunday, incidents have already far exceeded the media's coverage. Khaled's description of both methods and goal seems to fit what's occurring very accurately and should be given serious consideration. Y.)

By allowing Hamas to celebrate its 25th anniversary in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority leadership is paving the way for a third intifada against Israel.

In fact, in the past few days, the third intifada has already begun, as violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers have increased in various parts of the West Bank.

Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters have taken to the streets of Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron and Tulkarem to celebrate the event, the first of its kind since the Islamist movement expelled the Palestinian Authority from the Gaza Strip in 2007.

Since then, in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority had been cracking down on Hamas, arresting hundreds of its supporters and members and closing down dozens of institutions belonging to the movement.

In recent weeks, however, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has apparently decided to endorse a new strategy towards Hamas. He now considers Hamas a political ally rather than an enemy.

The change came immediately after the Israeli military offensive against Hamas in mid-November. The rapprochement between Abbas and Hamas reached its peak before and after the UN General Assembly vote in favor of upgrading the Palestinians' status to non-member observer state in late November.

Both Abbas and Hamas see the two events -- the war in the Gaza Strip and the UN vote — as "historic achievements" and military and political victories over Israel.

Emboldened by the "victories," Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal recently reached a secret agreement on the need to launch a "popular intifada" against Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources in Ramallah revealed.

"Hamas recognizes Israel" - Abbas' lie of the day

Elder of Ziyon..
13 December '12..





From YNet:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas blasted Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal for asserting that his group will never recognize Israel, hinting that the statement hinders the chances of the two-state solution, according to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.

“I don’t agree with Khaled Mashaal’s statement on the non-recognition of Israel because we, in fact, recognized it in 1993,” Abbas told reporters in Ankara at the conclusion of a two-day visit. “A four-article agreement between (Fatah and Hamas) stipulates a two-state vision. And Mashaal approved of this agreement."

So what is this four-article agreement that Hamas signed that accepted a two-state solution?

Apparently, it is not the 2011 Cairo agreement, which has five articles, but it is the 2007 Mecca national-unity agreement between the two.

Here is the full text:

(Continue)

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European friends, European foes

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
13 December '12..

We wrote yesterday ["11-Dec-12: On screaming silence and thundering demagoguery"] about the almost complete silence of the governments of Europe in the face of the sickening bigotry and repeated incitements to terrorism of the Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in a series of speeches this past weekend in the Gaza Strip.

We mentioned how the EU has poured withering criticism on Israel for its plan to build housing for several thousand families in Jerusalem, while uttering only the faintest bleat over Mashaal's whipping up the Palestinian Arabs into a death-to-Israel frenzy.

About that bleat:

(Continue)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook.
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Who is Hamas Trying to Fool? You and Everyone Else.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
28 November '12..

Is Hamas really on its way to moderation and pragmatism, as some Western political analysts and diplomats have come to believe? And what do some Hamas leaders mean when they say that they are ready to accept a Palestinian state "only" in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem?

These questions were raised after CNN recently aired an interview with Hamas "political leader" Khaled Mashaal.

Mashaal told CNN's Christiane Amanpour: "I accept a Palestinian state according to 1967 borders with Jerusalem as the capital, with the right of return [of millions of Palestinians to Israel]."

The Hamas leader's remark has since been misinterpreted by some Westerners as a sign that the radical Islamist movement, which was established 25 years ago with the declared goal of destroying Israel, has now abandoned its ideology and is on its way to endorsing a softer approach.

But while Mashaal was speaking on CNN, several Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip were talking -- in Arabic -- about their intention to pursue the fight against Israel until the "liberation of all our lands, from the sea to the river."

Benson - Mashaal, My Belle

Pesach Benson..
Honest Reporting/Backspin..
17 January '12..




The Globe & Mail breaks out the violins for Khaled Mashaal, the outgoing Hamas politburo chief.

Pass the tissues. Patrick Martin continues:

Mr. Meshaal will leave office at a sensitive time, just when his relative moderation may most be needed.

The quiet, intense man has been pivotal in efforts to reconcile with the secular Palestine Liberation Organization, and even has prodded Syria’s embattled President Bashar al-Assad to usher in political reforms rather than attack his own people . . .

Compared to Sheik Yassin and Dr. Rantisi, both refugees in Gaza camps, Mr. Meshaal, born in a village north of Ramallah in the West Bank, is a moderate, and this may explain his voluntary swan song now.

According to the G&M, Mashaal’s moderation came to the fore in 2009, when he argued against sending suicide bombers to Israel after Operation Cast Lead:

Hamas in English vs. Hamas in Arabic

Khaled Abu Toameh
Hudson New York
17 May '11

http://www.hudson-ny.org/2126/hamas-english-arabic


Hamas leaders have recently been sending conflicting messages about their policies and plans that have prompted some Westerners to argue that the movement has indeed changed and that this is the time to engage with it.

But the reality is that Hamas has not changed. All one has to do is listen to what Hamas says in Arabic to understand that it does not even have any intention to change.

This week, as Palestinians marked "Nakba Day" [the Day of Catastrophe] in protest against the creation of Israel. Hamas leaders reiterated their commitment to their movement's strategy, saying the fight against Israel would continue.

Not only is Hamas not prepared to change its charter, it also has no intention to accept the three conditions set by the international community for dealing with the Islamist movement, namely renouncing violence, recognizing Israel's right to exist and accepting previous agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israel.

On the one hand, Hamas leaders have been telling Western media outlets that they accept the two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 lines.

The Hamas leaders have also been telling Western journalists -- in English, of course -- that their movement has changed and is now willing to renounce violence.

In an interview with the New York Times earlier this month, for example, Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal declared: "The world must deal with what Hamas is practicing today. Hamas has accepted a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders including East Jerusalem, dismantling settlements and the right of return based on a long term truce."

Mashaal complained that it was "not logical for the international community to get stuck on sentences written 20 years ago." He was obviously referring to Hamas's charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel and vows to pursue the fight against the Jewish state.

Mashaal is not the only Hamas leader to send such conciliatory messages to Western audiences. Another one is Ahmed Yousef, an advisor to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in the Gaza Strip.

Yousef, who has been described by some Western correspondents as a "moderate voice" in Hamas, has been entrusted with marketing his movement to the outside world.

Listening to Yousef and reading what he writes in Western newspapers, one is left with the impression that Hamas is a peaceful organization whose only goal is to live in peace alongside its Jewish neighbors.

In an article entitled, "What Hamas Wants," Yousef wrote, also in The New York Times, that Hamas has been trying to engage the international community to explain its platform for peace.

"Hamas has consistently offered a 10-year cease-fire with the Israelis to try to create an atmosphere of calm in which we resolve our differences," he said.

Such messages, however, are almost never heard in Arabic. On the contrary, in Arabic Hamas's message has always been consistent and clear.

At the same time that Mashaal and Yousef are talking in English about accepting the two-state solution, most of Hamas's other leaders are vowing in Arabic that their movement would never recognize Israel's right to exist.

Following the signing of the Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas, the Islamist movement's representatives in Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip reassured Palestinians and Arabs that their movement has not abandoned its goal of "liberating all of Palestine."

Also in Arabic, Hamas leaders have pledged that their charter would not be changed despite the rapprochement with Fatah.

If one really wants to know what Hamas thinks, one should listen to what Hamas leaders tell their supporters in mosques and public rallies in the Gaza Strip, not what they write in the New York Times or the Guardian.

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Hamas' ideological and strategic alternative

Hamas leader Khaled Mash’al has recently presented Hamas' ideological and strategic alternative to the PA’s approach towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He slammed the PLO leadership, denied the legitimacy of Israel, ruled out the negotiations with it in their present form, and called to follow the path of jihad and armed struggle.


Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
08 August '10

Overview

1. Hamas' political bureau chief Khaled Mash’al recently gave a belligerent, aggressive speech at the graduation ceremony of a summer camp organized by Ahmed Jibril's PFLP-General Command in Damascus. In his speech, he called to continue jihad and the armed struggle, slammed the leadership of the PLO and the PA (“thugs”, “stuck on the path of negotiations”), and categorically denied any possibility of talks with Israel, claiming such negotiations would be illegitimate and could result in destruction and surrender to the Americans (see Appendix A for a summary of the speech).

2. Prior to that (July 21), Khaled Mash’al had granted a comprehensive programmatic interview (referred to on the Hamas website as “strategic”) to Al-Sabil, the Muslim Brotherhood mouthpiece in Jordan. In the interview, Mash’al discussed at length the issue of negotiations with Israel. He did not completely rule out negotiations “under certain circumstances”; however, he strictly opposed any talks (direct or indirect) in the current timing. According to Mash’al, the Palestinians should start negotiations from a position of power, “the product of jihad and resistance”, by which Israel could be forced to accept the Palestinian conditions. The current negotiations, said Mash’al, have been forced by the US and Israel and serve Israel instead of the Palestinians (see Appendix B for details).

(Read full report)

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Senior Hamas figures, especially Khaled Mashaal, reveal their intention to exploit the flotilla as part of their campaign to delegitimize Israel, cont

Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
11 July '10

1. Senior Hamas figures have represented the affair of the last flotilla as an important political-propaganda victory which not only damaged Israeli-Turkish relations but made a genuine change in the way the international community regarded Israel. However, Hamas is apprehensive lest Israel's easing of restrictions strengthens international understanding for its motives and increase pressure on the Hamas movement.

2. Statements made by Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus, and of other senior Hamas figures, present two objectives, one practical and the other political-strategic:

A. Practically speaking, Hamas wants the complete lifting of the so-called siege, meaning goods would enter and exit the Gaza Strip according to Hamas's conditions and rules: opening the crossings to the uninterrupted passage of all types of merchandise, including those with military use, banned by Israel; Hamas supervision of the goods entering the Gaza Strip; marginalizing the role of the Palestinian Authority making it easier to smuggle weapons in the future; opening the sea lanes to the Gaza Strip; and opening a route between Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip, which would facilitate smuggling weapons. As far as Hamas is concerned, imposing its own rules would strengthen its control over the Gaza Strip at the expense of the Palestinian Authority and promote the continuation of its military buildup.

(Read full report)

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Resistance Conference in Beirut Declares Resistance's Victory, U.S. Policy's Defeat in Region

The Beirut Conference: A Show of Strength by Resistance Organizations, Syria, and Iran


Y. Yehoshua
MEMRI
10 February '10

The first conference of the Arab-International Forum for Support of the Resistance was held January 15-17, 2010 in Beirut. Over 3,000 individuals from the Arab, Islamic, and Western world were in attendance; figuring prominently among them were leaders of the Palestinian, Lebanese and Iraqi resistance movements, and representatives from Iran and Syria.

The guest list included: Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas Political Bureau head Khaled Mash'al, and Iraqi Scholars Association chairman Sheikh Harith Al-Dhari, who represented the Iraqi resistance. There were also senior officials from Islamic and Arab countries, including Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Mir-Tajeddini, who read a letter from Ahmadinejad; a Syrian Ba'th Party official representing Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad; and numerous Lebanese officials, including a representative of Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, a representative of Lebanese Prime Minister Sa'd Al-Hariri, and former Lebanese prime minister Salim Al-Hoss. Also among the participants was International Union of Muslim Scholars head Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, as well as officials and intellectuals from various Western countries. The latter included British MP George Galloway, as well as former U.S. attorney-general Ramsey Clark and American attorney Stanley Cohen, who for years have been active in providing legal defense for accused terrorists.

During the conference, in what was in effect a show of strength by the elements of the pro-Iran camp, participants underlined the right to armed resistance against the Israeli and American occupations, and also the importance of the resistance in thwarting the West's policy vis-à-vis the Middle East and creating a just world order. The official website of the conference explained that the idea to convene it was born of the increase in pressure and in attempts to eliminate the option of resistance to occupation after the resistance "proved its great effectiveness in thwarting the hostile plans in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, and Afghanistan."[1] The conference's concluding statement called for coordination among all the resistance movements, and declared the resistance in Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq to be a model for ways of "countering the terrorism being implemented by Israel and the U.S."[2]

(Read full report)
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The Hamas "Smile Spin"

	I August 3, 2009
	Hamas is conducting a “smile spin” for the West, particularly the United States. Its main objectives are to ease its political isolation, improve its position vis-à-vis the Palestinian Authority and get funds to rebuild the Gaza Strip. For the Palestinians, it stresses that its fundamental anti-Israeli pro-terrorism strategy remains unchanged.
	Khaled Mashaal speaking on June 26, 2009. (Hamas’s Palestine-Info website, June 29, 2009). He leads Hamas’ smile spin which targets the United States and the other Western countries. Overview 1. In recent months Hamas has conducted a smile spin aimed at the West, particularly the United States . Hamas spokesmen in the Gaza Strip and Damascus , led by Khaled Mashaal , chairman of the Hamas political bureau, have been using softened rhetoric when referring to Hamas positions on various issues relating to its political connections with the West and Hamas' conflict with Israel . 2. As part of the spin, prominent were two interviews, one given by Khaled Mashaal's interview to the Wall Street Journal , and the other given by Ahmed Yousef, deputy foreign minister in the Hamas de-facto administration, to the British Economist (See the appendices for details). Part of the spin have been the repeated requests made by senior Hamas figures to the West for open diplomatic channels. They also make prominent references to the cessation of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and represent it as being in the interests of the Palestinian people, reiterating that Hamas is not an obstacle to the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state with the 1967 borders and Jerusalem as its capital, and state that Hamas is also ready to cooperate with the international community in a peace process leading to the establishment of such a state. 3. However, when speaking to the Palestinians , Hamas spokesmen continue using their routine extremist rhetoric , which clearly expresses Hamas' ideology. They reiterate Hamas' adherence to the strategy of “resistance” [i.e., terrorism] as the main way to “liberate Palestine,” refuse to recognize the State of Israel and insist uncompromisingly on the return of the Palestinian refugees within any agreement, even what Hamas would consider an interim arrangement for the establishment of a Palestinian state with the 1967 borders. To inculcate the principle, the Hamas de-facto administration in the Gaza Strip recently organized a conference of representatives of educational and cultural institutions and intellectuals designed to reinforce the so-called “culture of resistance” which centers around adherence to the “resistance” [i.e., terrorism], opposition to peace negotiations and the rejection of Western values foreign to Islam and the Palestinian people. 4. Hamas' smile spin and rabble-rousing rhetoric are fundamentally two sides of the same coin . They reflect the basic tension between Hamas' adherence to its radical Islamic ideology and the pragmatic considerations resulting from the administrative responsibilities of the movement, which controls the Gaza Strip and is responsible for the welfare of 1.5 million Palestinians. Ideologically and strategically , Hamas remains committed to the final objective of the destruction of the State of Israel and refuses to abandon or even modify its 1988 charter, the basic document which expounds the movement's radical Islamic worldview. However, at the same time, practically speaking Hamas does not reject temporary lulls in terrorist attacks for various longer or shorter periods of time, with or without formal agreements, when it deems the interests of the Gazan population of or the movement require it.1 Politically speaking Hamas aspires to open dialogue channels with the international community and to gain the greatest amount of political and economic benefit possible with relation to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, without changing its basic positions . Appendix I Examples of Hamas' smile spin 1. Khaled Mashaal , chairman of the Hamas political bureau, was recently interviewed in Damascus by theWall Street Journal . According to the paper, the wall was decorated with pictures of Hamas leaders who had been deemed shaheeds and a picture of the Al-Aqsa mosque. The main points of the interview were the following ( Wall Street Journal , July 31): i) The Hamas movement and its military-terrorist wing would be willing to agree to animmediate reciprocal ceasefire with Israel , as well as a prisoner exchange that would trade Hamas fighters for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. ii) Hamas and other Palestinian organizations would be ready to cooperate with any American, international or regional effort to find a just solution to the Arab-Israeli conflic t, end the so-called “Israeli occupation” and allow the Palestinian people their right to self-determination.” He said Hamas expected President Obama and his special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, to present a broader outline for conducting Middle East peace talks . iii) Hamas would be willing to “stand by and respect” a Palestinian state with the 1967 borders as part of a broader agreement with Israel . That would be on condition that Israel agreed to the “right of return” of millions of Palestinian refugees and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. iv) Hamas would not be an obstacle to peace . “We,” he said, “along with other Palestinian factions in consensus agreed upon accepting a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines. This is the national program. This is our program. This is a position we stand by and respect.” (Continue)