Hamas FM says ready to live 'side by side' with neighbours Options

[nobody]

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Hamas FM says ready to live 'side by side' with neighbours Tue Apr 4, 3:23 PM ET

The Hamas-led Palestinian government is ready to live "side by side" with all its neighbours, the foreign minister said in a letter to the UN Secretary General obtained by AFP.

The letter from Mahmud al-Zahar also referred to a "two state solution" for the Middle East conflict, an outcome that would require recognition of Israel, a state which the radical Islamist group denies has a right to exist.

"We are looking for freedom and independence side by side with our neighbours and we are ready for serious discussions with the quartet," said a copy of the letter to UN chief Kofi Annan.

The quartet of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, are the sponsors of the stalled Middle East peace process and the drafters of the roadmap seeking to create a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

"We look forward to living in peace and security, as all countries in the world, and that our people enjoy freedom and independence side-by-side with all our neighbours in this holy place," the text added.

Islamist movement Hamas, whose first government was sworn in last week, has carried out scores of suicide bombings in Israel and is officially committed to armed struggle to end Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Its charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state and the establishment of a Palestine on land today incorporated in modern Israel.

Yet the copy of the letter seen by AFP referred to the "two-state solution" to the Middle East conflict and said the Hamas-led government was committed to opening peace talks with the international community.

"Israeli procedures in the occupied territories will put an end to all hopes to reach a final settlement based on the two-state solution," it said.

An official in Zahar's office in Gaza City, where the Hamas leader is based, denied that the letter included any sense of recognising the Jewish state or its right to exist.

"Zahar sent a letter to Annan but he did not recognize Israel or make any mention of anything related to Israel's right to exist," he said.

Zahar's letter reiterated previous calls from Hamas for peace talks with the international community, although the radical Islamist faction has refused to renounce violence, explicitly recognize Israel or previous peace agreements.

"Our government is serious about working with the quartet," it said.

"Our government is ready for serious discussions and to work with the United Nations and with the entire international community to strengthen security, sovereignty, peace and independence in our region based on just resolutions.


Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse.

[PhilinFL]

It's like they're just taking all the old press releases from Fatah, and sliced off the letterhead on the top and replaced it with "Hamas," with today's date...

Can't they think up ANY new stuff?

[concheet]

You got that right PhilinFl! It disgusts me to listen to them trying to weasel some words together in such a way that we should believe them today!

The headlines are disgusting!

Ismail Haniyeh appeared to suggest that peace could be made with Israel
www.csmonitor.com/2006/0227/p07s02-wome.html

Hamas officials say they are prepared to consider a two-state solution with ... Israel; two, don't renounce terrorism; and three, don't accept the peace www.voanews.com/english/2006-04-07-voa32.cfm

some senior Hamas figures were prepared to consider a truce despite Israeli ... http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/06/16/...5615733489.html

be ready to make peace with Israel under certain circumstances, Hamas has ... Hamas had no hatred of Israel and was prepared to consider recognition of ... http://www.jerusalemites.org/articles/pres.../press1/107.htm

Hamas leader says would consider 10-year truce [prepare to destroy Israel for 10 years] By Haaretz Service and Agencies November 29 2004 ... http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=22975

They make no bones about where they are coming from. One only needs to read their COVENANT.

Of course the Europeans and others may pretend to believe them -- why shouldn't they sacrifice the Jews first?--- because they (Euros et al) are fast becoming the whores of the Arabs, especially due to the fact that they have been thoroughly infiltrated. Israel is infiltrated but at least she knows the score...

The world will never be safer if Israel or any of the rest of the world caves in to Hamas. How many [humans] have to suffer and die before the world wakes up???

[PhilinFL]

<<The world will never be safer if Israel or any of the rest of the world caves in to Hamas. How many [humans] have to suffer and die before the world wakes up???>>

Frankly, Conch, I don't give a rat's @ss if Israel's surrender WOULD make Europe safer. In fact, there is a kharmic kind of poetic justice to imagine that if Israel makes itself safer, then more Europeans will die from Islamic terrorism...esp Germans...Hmmmmmm.

The purpose/obligation of the Jewish state is to make the lives of Jews within and without Israel more secure, which obviously requires them to safeguard the Jewish homeland. Period.

PERIOD.

Israel needs to keep its historical purpose/obligation in mind--maybe bind it as a frontlet before its eyes?