by Clifford D. May
-- when it comes to Islamists, too many journalists are losing what George Orwell called the "constant struggle" to see "what is in front of one's nose."
"Hamas
Drops Call for Israel's Destruction," The Wall Street Journal had in a
headline last week. The New York Times told its readers: "Hamas
Moderates Talk on Israel," while the British Guardian concluded that
Hamas had produced a document likely to "ease peace process."
All this is big news -- or would be if it were true. But it's not. Not even close.
What it is instead is
more evidence that, when it comes to Islamists, too many journalists are
losing what George Orwell called the "constant struggle" to see "what
is in front of one's nose."
To understand what is
really going on, let us start with a few pertinent facts. Hamas, the
Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, is recognized as a
terrorist organization by the U.S., Britain and the European Union.
Following Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005, civil war
broke out between Hamas and its main rival, Fatah, headed by Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Within two years, Hamas had
prevailed. It has ruled Gaza ever since, devoting its energies to
launching rockets, digging terrorist tunnels and provoking three wars
with Israel.
In its 1988 founding
charter, Hamas makes clear that its goal is to wipe Israel off the map.
It rejects a "two-state solution" because, as it interprets Islamic
scripture, any land conquered by Muslims at any time in history is as an
endowment from Allah to the Muslims. No one has the authority to
surrender such territory to non-Muslims.
Last week, at a press
conference in Doha, Qatar, Hamas unveiled what it called a "Document of
General Principles and Policies." Hamas implicitly renounced its ties to
the Muslim Brotherhood, the organization that launched the modern
Islamist movement 89 years ago. However, it mentioned no ideological
disagreements with the Brotherhood.
So why the ostensible
break? Hamas leaders would like increased international acceptance and,
in particular, to be viewed more kindly by Egyptian President Abdel
Fattah el-Sisi. Indeed, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
all regard the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
In the document, Hamas
says it is willing to accept a provisional Palestinian state within the
1967 lines. It does not say it is unwilling to accept Israel beyond
those lines.
As for those lines,
take a moment to recall how they came into being. Sixty-nine years ago,
Israel declared its independence within part of Mandate Palestine,
territory the British had taken from the Turks after World War I. The
largest chunk of that territory had already become what is now known as
Jordan. The U.N. proposed dividing the remainder into two states, one
Jewish and one Arab. The Israelis said they could live with that. The
Arabs said they would not.
The armies of Egypt,
Syria, Lebanon and Jordan invaded and attempted to destroy the fledgling
Jewish state. In 1949, the conflict came to a halt. The armistice lines
held until 1967, when a second attempt was made to push the Jews into
the sea. That effort also failed and the Israelis ended up taking Gaza
from Egypt and Judea and Samaria from Jordan. Ever since, Israel has
attempted -- and failed -- to trade land for peace.
The new Hamas document
continues to rule out peaceful coexistence with the "enemy," also called
the "Zionist project." It envisions "the full and complete liberation
of Palestine, from the river to the sea," in other words every inch of
Israel. (Though the notion that Gazans are "liberated" is simply
absurd.) Nor does Hamas disavow terrorism, which it euphemizes as
"resistance," noting that it considers "all means and methods" --
suicide bombings, knifing children -- permissible and indeed "guaranteed
by divine laws, customs and international laws."
Over the weekend, Hamas
made news a second time when it named Ismail Haniyeh to its senior
leadership position. If he follows the example of his predecessor,
Khaled Mashaal, he will now move from Gaza to Qatar where he will rule
from the relative safety of an elegant Doha hotel suite.
Inside Gaza, the most
powerful figure will be Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas' military wing,
often described by journalists as a hard-liner. Do those journalists
really expect us to believe that there are jihadist terrorist moderates?
You may be wondering:
What is Qatar's angle? An oil- and gas-rich mini-state on the
northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, Qatar is ruled by a
36-year-old emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani. He is extraordinarily
adept at playing both ends against the middle: He provides Hamas not
just with a capital-in-exile but also with much of its funding. He
supports other Muslim Brotherhood organizations throughout the region.
Financiers of al-Qaida, the Taliban and other terrorist groups operate
openly in Qatar.
At the same time, the emir transmits Qatari perspectives -- a less polite term would be Islamist propaganda -- around the world through Al Jazeera, the state-funded international television network.
At the same time, the emir transmits Qatari perspectives -- a less polite term would be Islamist propaganda -- around the world through Al Jazeera, the state-funded international television network.
But Qatar has another
face. It hosts the largest American military base in the Middle East. It
contributes millions of dollars to several Washington think tanks. And
it lavishly subsidizes satellite campuses for American universities,
among them Georgetown, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, Texas
A&M and Virginia Commonwealth.
The campuses are
located in "Education City" where the main mosque regularly features
Islamist clerics, including Mudassir Ahmed, who from the pulpit last
year said: "Kill the infidels. ... Count them in number and do not spare
one." Another preacher called for Allah to "render victorious our
brothers the mujahideen ... in every place" and to "guide their
shooting."
What do the
administrators of the American colleges say about this? Not a word. When
it comes to Islamists, too many academics long ago gave up the struggle
to see what is in front of their noses.
Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a columnist for the Washington Times.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=18995
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