Nickhere - 09 Mar 07 - 05:56 PM

"Some people keep repeating that Hamas wants the state of Israel 'wiped off the map' like a mantra or a jingle, as if it required no further comment or context, and was self-evident proof of Hamas' (and by extension, since they voted for Hamas, the Palestinian people) unreasonable pathology. The first question of course is to wonder if the translation from Arabic is accurate in the first instance. But even assuming it is, the phrase is more ambiguous than has been suggested and could as easily mean scrapping Israel's borders (but leaving the population intact) as the more-usually ascribed meaning of exterminating the Israeli population. Of course, either scenario is bad news for Israelis, but the idea that it is simply the wanton badness of Hamas that prompts them to make such utterances in the first instance requires further comment."

The principles of Hamas are stated in their Covenant or Charter (18th August 1988), the following are some highlights:

"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."

"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. "

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."

Now Nick what do you understand "obliterate" to mean? Why does Hamas believe that "Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."?

From Article Seven of the Hamas Charter Nickhere:
The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the links in the chain of the struggle against the Zionist invaders. It goes back to 1939, to the emergence of the martyr Izz al-Din al Kissam and his brethren the fighters, members of Moslem Brotherhood. It goes on to reach out and become one with another chain that includes the struggle of the Palestinians and Moslem Brotherhood in the 1948 war and the Jihad operations of the Moslem Brotherhood in 1968 and after.

Moreover, if the links have been distant from each other and if obstacles, placed by those who are the lackeys of Zionism in the way of the fighters obstructed the continuation of the struggle, the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).

Article Eleven:
The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that.

Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated for Moslem generations until Judgement Day. This being so, who could claim to have the right to represent Moslem generations till Judgement Day?

This is the law governing the land of Palestine in the Islamic Sharia (law) and the same goes for any land the Moslems have conquered by force, because during the times of (Islamic) conquests, the Moslems consecrated these lands to Moslem generations till the Day of Judgement.

Article Thirteen:
Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight. "Allah will be prominent, but most people do not know."

Now and then the call goes out for the convening of an international conference to look for ways of solving the (Palestinian) question. Some accept, others reject the idea, for this or other reason, with one stipulation or more for consent to convening the conference and participating in it. Knowing the parties constituting the conference, their past and present attitudes towards Moslem problems, the Islamic Resistance Movement does not consider these conferences capable of realising the demands, restoring the rights or doing justice to the oppressed. These conferences are only ways of setting the infidels in the land of the Moslems as arbitraters. When did the infidels do justice to the believers?

"But the Jews will not be pleased with thee, neither the Christians, until thou follow their religion; say, The direction of Allah is the true direction. And verily if thou follow their desires, after the knowledge which hath been given thee, thou shalt find no patron or protector against Allah." (The Cow - verse 120).

There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with. As in said in the honourable Hadith:
"The people of Syria are Allah's lash in His land. He wreaks His vengeance through them against whomsoever He wishes among His slaves It is unthinkable that those who are double-faced among them should prosper over the faithful. They will certainly die out of grief and desperation."

No question of confusion of meaning due to translation in any of the above Nick, it all comes from the "Official" Hamas translation of their Charter.

From your same post, you state:
"The most obvious point is that is seems to be forgotten or overlooked that since 1967 Israel has occupied and aggressively expanded into the area known as the West Bank, home to many Palestinians, and Gaza to a lesser extent (afterall, Gaza is mainly desert)."

On this you are simply wrong, or being deliberately selective, both Gaza and the West Bank were formerly part of the Palestinian Mandated Territories that were allocated to Jewish Settlement. In 1948, Egypt attacked and seized Gaza, while the Jordanians attacked and seized the West Bank. That is a matter of record, both Gaza and the West bank are territories taken by conquest by the pan-arabic forces during the 1948 war. Can you please tell me why Egypt and Jordan can hold land won in time of war but why Israel cannot?