Hamas Interview In Spiegel

Spiegel has a lengthy interview with the Hamas goatfuc...umm, Palestinian PM Ismail Haniya. You can read the whole thing here.

Of particular interest, however, is this exchange, in which Hamas lays out its "compromise" position with Israel.

Haniya: If all that we were talking were mutual recognition, we would agree. But the reality is quite different. Israel is against dividing Jerusalem, against the return of the refugees and against a withdrawal to the 1967 borders.

SPIEGEL: If Israel were to withdraw to the 1967 borders and leave East Jerusalem, including the Islamic holy sites, to the Palestinians, would you then be willing to recognize Israel?

Haniya: If Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says tomorrow that Israel will fulfill these conditions, we will provide something in return.

SPIEGEL: What would that be?

Haniya: A long-term Hudna, or cease-fire, for the next 50 years.
[...]
SPIEGEL: The Israelis are responsible for the occupation of the West Bank. But your government is responsible for the threat to Israel's very existence. You place demands that shake the state of Israel to its foundations, the refugees' right of return, for example.

Haniya: Is there a statute of limitations on the rights of the refugees? Doesn't the world see the suffering of millions of Palestinians who have been living in exile around the world or in refugee camps for the past 60 years? No state, no home, no identity, no right to work. Doesn't the world see this injustice?
[...]
SPIEGEL: In other words, he can decide that he'd rather move to a new Palestinian state and receive financial compensation for doing so?

Haniya: You expect the Palestinians to sell their native country, their fatherland, for money?

Of course, Israel is already pulling back to something close to the 1967 borders. And, the status of Jerusalem might be negotiable - although successive Israeli governments have said it is not and it is highly unlikely that any Israeli government will ever budge on having a united Jerusalem as its capital. However, no Israeli government is ever going to agree to the "right to return." That would be like asking the Israelis to put their heads on the chopping block, while handing an axe to people who want them dead or expelled. And, Hamas knows this. So, basically, they are saying "we're going to keep killing, because it is all we know."

So, once again, not one dime of US money should be going to any Palestinian, no matter what organization it is laundered through.

Until the Palestinians lay down their arms, until all Palestinians with any power renounce the aim of overrunning Israel, until we are satisfied that the collection of thieves and thugs that makes up the Palestinian leadership is purged, than we should be doing nothing to help them.

Harsh? Probably; however, we have sunk billions into the PA and the Palestinian people. We have bent over backwards to try and give them a country. We have done things for them that we have not done for groups far more coherent, far more capable of running their own affairs and, to be blunt, far more deserving of nationhood. Maybe it is time we demand something from them, than the odd statement that they'll refrain from killing Israelis for a few days.

technorati: israel, palestine, hamas