PrintApril 4, 2008
To talk or not to talk: What does Hamas have to say?
To talk or not to talk to Hamas? That is the question circling among of foreign policy advisors, international experts and the U.S. State Department. In March, the State Department floated the question on its blog and asked if the U.S should engage Hamas as part of its efforts to bring about peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.
Although the State Department representative denies that response to the question would change the U.S. policy of not talking to Hamas, The New York Times indicates that the U.S. may, in fact, reconsider talks with Hamas.
Although the State Department representative denies that response to the question would change the U.S. policy of not talking to Hamas, The New York Times indicates that the U.S. may, in fact, reconsider talks with Hamas.
"The Bush administration continues to publicly spurn anything that looks like support for negotiations with Hamas. But increasingly, particularly in the State Department, administration officials have begun debating whether the United States must weigh such talks if it is to realize its hopes of mediating a peace deal. "
There is an increasing chorus of voices calling for such talks. The Washington Post reports that foreign-policy advisors Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft, issued a statement:
"As to Hamas, we believe a genuine dialogue with the organization is far preferable to its isolation."
The question assumes that Hamas would be eager (or willing) to engage in dialogue with the EU, the UN, the Quartet, or any other group of non-Muslims to iron out a solution, that given sufficient incentives, Hamas will ultimately negotiate a solution, and that all groups in the Middle East will benefit from a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Before any further discussion on whether to engage Hamas, the U.S. should examine what Hamas has to say about its own aspirations, which are clearly stated in its own charter.
The Charter of Allah: The Platform of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)
The Hamas mission is to destroy the state of Israel because there is no tolerance for a Jewish state in the Middle East.
The Hamas mission is to destroy the state of Israel because there is no tolerance for a Jewish state in the Middle East.
The Charter opens with Koran Surat Al-Imran (III), verses 109-111
"Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it" and continues in the introduction, "the Islamic Resistance Movement erupted in order to play its role in the path of its Lord. In so doing, it joined its hands with those of all Jihad fighters for the purpose of liberating Palestine." "Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims." (Article 28)
There are no issues of borders: all of Israel is the target of Islamic destruction.
"The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinct Palestinian Movement which owes its loyalty to Allah, derives from Islam its way of life and strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine."(Article 6)
Jews are the enemy
The goal of eliminating Israel is expanded to include all Jews.
The goal of eliminating Israel is expanded to include all Jews.
"For our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide-ranging and grave, so much so that it will need all the loyal efforts we can wield, to be followed by further steps and reinforced by successive battalions from the multifarious Arab and Islamic world, until the enemies are defeated and Allah's victory prevails." (Introduction); citation of Koran: "Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!" (Article 7)
As Jihad predates the State of Israel (1948), it opposes any Jewish presence in the Middle East.
"Hamas is one of the links in the Chain of Jihad in the confrontation with the Zionist invasion. It links up with the setting out of the Martyr Izz a-din al-Qassam and his brothers in the Muslim Brotherhood who fought the Holy War in 1936; it further relates to another link of the Palestinian Jihad and the Jihad and efforts of the Muslim Brothers during the 1948 War, and to the Jihad operations of the Muslim Brothers in 1968 and thereafter." (Article 7)
Worldwide Jihad
Hamas defines itself as part of a worldwide jihad and minimizes any differences between itself and the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas defines itself as part of a worldwide jihad and minimizes any differences between itself and the Palestinian Authority.
"The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of the Muslim Brothers in Palestine. The Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a world organization, the largest Islamic Movement in the modern era." (Article 2) Despite the differences the west attributes to Fatah and Hamas, "The PLO is among the closest to the Hamas, for it constitutes a father, a brother, a relative, a friend." the position of the Hamas towards the PLO is one of "a son towards his father, a brother towards his brother, and a relative towards his relative.." (Article 27)
All Muslim civilians are part of the armed forces against Israel
"Hamas regards Nationalism (Wataniyya) as part and parcel of the religious faith. Nothing is loftier or deeper in Nationalism than waging Jihad against the enemy and confronting him when he sets foot on the land of the Muslims. And this becomes an individual duty binding on every Muslim man and woman." (Article 12)
The goal of eliminating Israel will never waiver. No negotiations by other parties, even Arabs and Muslims, are valid as violence is the only means of jihad.
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Waqf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it. No Arab country nor the aggregate of all Arab countries, and no Arab King or President nor all of them in the aggregate, have that right, nor has that right any organization or the aggregate of all organizations, be they Palestinian or Arab, because Palestine is an Islamic Waqf throughout all generations and to the Day of Resurrection." (Article 11)
"[Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement...There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad." (Article 13)
In conjunction with unrelenting warfare, all civil institutions (schools and media) must be subject to the needs of jihad.
Kill the enemy
"The ‘ulama as well as educators and teachers, publicity and media men as well as the masses of the educated, and especially the youth and the elders of the Islamic Movements, must participate in this raising of consciousness. There is no escape from introducing fundamental changes in educational curricula in order to cleanse them from all vestiges of the ideological invasion which has been brought about by orientalists and missionaries." The lessons of media and education must be, "I indeed wish to go to war for the sake of Allah! I will assault and kill, assault and kill, assault and kill (told by Bukhari and Muslim)." (Article 15)
All art must serve the Islamist purpose
"So, books, articles, publications, religious exhortations, epistles, songs, poems, hymns, plays, and the like, if they possess the characteristics of Islamic art, have the requisites of ideological mobilization..." (Article 19)
Usurp the media, education and religion of other nations
"Men of letters, members of the intelligentsia, media people, preachers, teachers and educators and all different sectors in the Arab and Islamic world, are all called upon to play their role and to carry out their duty in view of the wickedness of the Zionist invasion, of its penetration into many countries, and its control over material means and the media, with all the ramifications thereof in most countries of the world." (Article 30)
Zionist/Jewish enemy controls the world
"Therefore, you can see them making consistent efforts [in that direction] by way of publicity and movies, curricula of education and culture, using as their intermediaries their craftsmen who are part of the various Zionist Organizations which take on all sorts of names and shapes such as: the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, gangs of spies and the like. All of them are nests of saboteurs and sabotage. Those Zionist organizations control vast material resources, which enable them to fulfill their mission amidst societies, with a view of implementing Zionist goals and sowing the concepts that can be of use to the enemy." (Article 17) "This wealth [permitted them to] take over control of the world media such as news agencies, the press, publication houses, broadcasting and the like." (Article 22)
The Jews did it
"The Nazism of the Jews does not skip women and children, it scares everyone." (Article 19) [They also used this] wealth to stir revolutions in various parts of the globe in order to fulfill their interests and pick the fruits. They stood behind the French and the Communist Revolutions and behind most of the revolutions we hear about here and there." (Article 22)
The vast conspiracy
Zionists/Jews employ Freemasons, Rotary Clubs and Lions Clubs in nefarious schemes and are responsible for creation of all woes including, imperialism, the League of Nations and the United Nations.
Zionists/Jews employ Freemasons, Rotary Clubs and Lions Clubs in nefarious schemes and are responsible for creation of all woes including, imperialism, the League of Nations and the United Nations.
"They also used the money to establish clandestine organizations which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests. Such organizations are: the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, B'nai B'rith and the like. All of them are destructive spying organizations. They also used the money to take over control of the Imperialist states and made them colonize many countries in order to exploit the wealth of those countries and spread their corruption therein...They obtained the Balfour Declaration and established the League of Nations in order to rule the world by means of that organization. They also stood behind World War II, where they collected immense benefits from trading with war materials and prepared for the establishment of their state. They inspired the establishment of the United Nations and the Security Council to replace the League of Nations, in order to rule the world by their intermediary." (Article 22)
Jews are the aggressors
Zionists have designs on controlling not just the tiny nation of Israel but all of the Middle East.
Zionists have designs on controlling not just the tiny nation of Israel but all of the Middle East.
"Today it is Palestine and tomorrow it may be another country or other countries. For Zionist scheming has no end, and after Palestine they will covet expansion from the Nile to the Euphrates." (Article 32)
Islam the yardstick
By ridding the world of Israel and Jews, Hamas can create a more perfect world, under the dominion of Islam.
By ridding the world of Israel and Jews, Hamas can create a more perfect world, under the dominion of Islam.
"It [Hamas] will only be of help to all associations and organizations which act against the Zionist enemy and those who revolve in its orbit. Hamas posits Islam as a way of life, it is its faith and its yardstick for judging." (Article 36)
The next time foreign policy experts, the State Department, or media pundits advocate talks with Hamas, I hope they ask themselves which of the tenets is on the table. If we are not prepared to believe wild anti-Semitic delusions, sacrifice Israel, devote all Western media to the Islamist message, glorify violence or look forward to a world in which Islam is the measure of justice and liberty, what is there to discuss?
