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Middle East
Hamas 'ready to accept phased withdrawal'
2004-01-26
A top official of the Palestinian militant group Hamas says it could declare a 10-year truce with Israel if the Jewish state withdrew from territory occupied since 1967.
Oboy. Another hudna.
Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi says Hamas has come to the conclusion that it is "difficult to liberate all our land at this stage, so we accept a phased liberation".
"We could kill them all later."
"We accept a state in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip," he said in a telephone interview with Reuters from the Gaza Strip. We propose a 10-year truce in return for [Israeli] withdrawal and the establishment of a state."
I guess Qurei really has been doing some talking. And the helicopters helped.
His comments appeared to strengthen signs of a political shift from Hamas, which is sworn to destroy Israel but appears to be moving closer to the aims of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
Which is... ummm... sworn to destroy Israel.
Israel dismisses any talk of Hamas moderation as a smokescreen for military preparations by a group at the forefront of suicide bombings. Mr Rantissi said any such new proposal would not mean that Hamas recognised Israel or spell the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas has led a suicide bombing campaign that has killed hundreds of Israelis during more than three years of violence. It has rejected peace talks and demanded that a Palestinian state be formed on all the land that was Palestine under the British mandate preceding the creation of Israel more than five decades ago. Mr Rantissi said the truce could last 10 years, though "not more than 10 years".
"And probably not more than a few weeks. At most."
Israel dismisses any hint that Hamas might be softening its stance, particularly after a suicide bombing killed four Israelis at a border crossing on January 14. Israeli officials also say it would be impossible to return to pre-1967 borders, emphasising that the Palestinians could not expect East Jerusalem, some major Jewish settlements or other land deemed vital for security. Mr Rantissi said discussion within Hamas on accepting a state in just the West Bank and Gaza was not new but that "the movement has taken a decision on this". He said he did not expect Israel to respond favourably to the new suggestion, "when it has rejected the Palestinian Authority's offer for less land than what we are proposing".
Posted by:Fred Pruitt

#9  Demanding the Israelis stop the Paleo civil war? lol - or inserting targets peacekeepers from the EU/UN?
Posted by: Frank G   2004-1-26 8:50:29 PM  

#8  I wish Arafish would hurry up and die. I'm looking forward to the paleo civil war. It should have a high entertainment value, especially with the euro left screaming for military intervention.
Posted by: Anonymous   2004-1-26 7:05:49 PM  

#7  Hamas is now on the verge of being recognized by the palestinian in the street for what it is, a bloody murderous organization that is leading the palestinians from one disaster to another.

That's a small step, but the Average Hassan needs to realize that the big fish to fry is Arafart himself. Hamas and its competing groups are only convenient scapegoats.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2004-1-26 2:06:15 PM  

#6  In some cases I agree with a phased, but with respect to a kabar, the blood-grooves should allow for rapid withdrawal out of the chest of any Hamas militant.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-1-26 1:57:31 PM  

#5  I take the "10 years" term to indicate that they are running out of splodeydopes and need to let the next generation grow big enough to carry a bomb.

Posted by: Anonymous   2004-1-26 12:39:16 PM  

#4  build a bigger fence !!
Posted by: Jon Shep U.K   2004-1-26 12:00:31 PM  

#3  Hamas is tired and discredited; just like their leftist sympathizers/allies/enablers.

The only thing Israel should negotiate with those muderous bastards is whether we let the leadership live anohter ten minutes or another ten months.
Posted by: badanov   2004-1-26 7:22:03 AM  

#2  ...He said he did not expect Israel to respond favourably to the new suggestion, "when it has rejected the Palestinian Authority's offer for less land than what we are proposing".

Just who was it that rejected an offer of - I think - 97% of everything that they were asking for back at the last Camp David talks?

Mr Rantissi said the truce could last 10 years, though "not more than 10 years".

translation: "The Israelis only believed that we'd uphold our end of Oslo farce for 7 years before they started to get wise. We think that this time, with some more pressure from the EU and the UN, we can stretch it to ten. Besides, we are almost out of willing idiots martyrs, and as cute as those kindergarden graduation photos look (you know, the ones with the boys taking aim with toy rifles, or with fake dynamite strapped around their waists), it will take ten more years to raise a new crop of idiots martyrs and mindless, hate-filled zombies jihadis."
Posted by: Dripping Sarcasm   2004-1-26 7:10:50 AM  

#1  Hamas is coming to realize that they have already missed the train !
The Security fence is now an established reality.
It is the only thing that is actually effective in stopping terrorist boomers (not that they ever stopped trying). An interesting side effect of the security bonus is that the Hamas and the Fatah under the orchestration of the Arafish Mafia have given Sharon the best pretext for establishing political facts in the field.
Hamas is now on the verge of being recognized by the palestinian in the street for what it is, a bloody murderous organization that is leading the palestinians from one disaster to another.
They are now frantically looking for a way to look more moderate than they really are in order to take the pressure off themselves so that their own people do not blame them for being the loosers they are.
They fool nobody.
Anyway,even though they seem quite popular in Sweden right now (especially in artistic circles of the swedish extreme left) for at least some of the guys at the Hamas top, the end may be nearer than they think.
Posted by: The Dodo   2004-1-26 1:54:27 AM  

00:00