The war against the Jews (17)

Tuesday, 22nd April 2008

Has the Times gone soft in the head? It headlines a story today

Hamas leader accepts Israel's right to exist after Carter visit

even though the very first words of the story itself state

Hamas will not recognise Israel.

This is because the Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal has said it

will accept a Palestinian state on Palestine territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war

and so, concludes reporter Sheera Frenkel, this amounted to a

tacit acceptance of Israel’s right to exist alongside a Palestinian state, but without explicit recognition.

What nonsense! The profound Israel-hater Jimmy Carter (pictured above paying homage at the tomb of Yasser Arafat) may be spreading such mischief, but Mashaal’s remarks do nothing of the sort. Hamas has previously indicated graciously that it will accept a Palestinian state – all the better to eradicate Israel, to which every Hamas official and supporter remains committed, along with the killing of every Jew wherever they find them, as spelled out in terms in their charter.

Haaretz reports that Mashaal is offering a ten-year ‘hudna’, which it translates as ‘truce’, if Israel withdraws from the disputed territories. But a hudna – which Hamas has also suggested before – is not a cessation of hostilities but a period of retrenchment to allow for an uninterrupted build-up of weapons and trained soldiery in order to wage a more devastating war. Haaretz tells us that ‘hudna’ implies a recognition of Israel’s existence. That is very different, however, from recognising Israel’s right to continue to exist.

The naïve Ms Frenkel goes on:

Mashaal, who spoke at a news conference, said that the future Palestinian state must have Jerusalem as its ‘genuine, sovereign capital’. He did not say whether he meant the eastern, Arab, section or the entire city.

Take a guess, Ms Frenkel.