Hamas Vows “the Liberation of all of Palestine”

March 24, 2017

by: Ilse Posselt

Friday, 24 March 2017 | It is a popular emotive narrative peddled by Palestinian leaders for the benefit of a world audience concerned with social justice. The Palestinians, the rhetoric argues, simply desire east Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria to establish their own state where they can live in peace and harmony—right alongside Israel. The remainder of the strip of land wedged between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, the story goes, may remain in Jewish hands as Israel.

Yet on Wednesday, Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip, once again highlighted the terror organization’s true intentions when he vowed to wipe Israel from the map. Hamas, he told his audience, would persist in its conflict with Israel for “the liberation of all of Palestine” and would “not surrender even a morsel” of land to the Jews.

Speaking at an event to commemorate the death of Hamas founder, Ahmed Yassin, who died in 2004 during an Israeli air strike on Gaza, Sinwar made it clear that if the terror group had its way, the Jewish state would cease to exist. “Hamas will continue in the path of Yassin for the liberation of all of Palestine—we will not surrender even a morsel.”

Wednesday’s address marks one of Sinwar’s first public comments since he was picked to head up the terror group ruling over the people of Gaza. A volatile hard-line extremist, the 55-year-old self-confessed murderer with multiple convictions for brutally killing Palestinians and a spot on the United States’ terrorism blacklist took over the reins from Ismail Haniyah last month. His appointment sparked concerns that Sinwar would lead Hamas into an era of intensified violence, terror and war against the Jewish state.

Sinwar’s statement stands in opposition to the supposed new, more moderate charter that Hamas is alleged to have drawn up. The Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported two weeks ago that the terror organization had penned a new manifesto in the hope of being removed from Western terrorist lists by toning down its jihadist image. The updated charter is set for release next month after the completion of Hamas’s internal elections.

Hamas’s founding charter scoffs at the idea of a two-state solution with Jewish and Palestinians living side-by-side. Instead, it advocates the annihilation of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic state in its stead.

The Times of Israel explains that the revised document gives its nod of approval to the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem—the land which Israel liberated during the Six Day War. It will, however, not serve as a substitute for the terror organization’s founding document which calls for Israel’s destruction and for “confronting the usurpation of Palestine by the Jews through jihad.” The document also argues that “Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Muslim people.”

Moreover, Hamas failed to indicate whether they see the new manifesto as a step towards peaceful coexistence alongside the Jewish state or whether they remain committed to their aim of establishing an Islamic state in the place of Israel, The Times of Israel reports.

Following the head of Hamas’s statement on Wednesday, it is safe to say that speculation as to the terror organization’s intentions can be set aside. Regardless of the moderate image make-over that Hamas might try to peddle to a world audience, there can be no misunderstanding phrases like “the liberation of all of Palestine” and “not surrender[ing] even a morsel” of land to the Jews.

Posted on March 24, 2017

Source: (Bridges for Peace, 24 March 2017)

Photo Credit: Palwatch.org