Report: Zahar says 'There's no room for Israel on this land'

[Behind the Aegis]

Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar was quoted in a weekend interview to a Chinese news agency defending Hamas' declared goal of eventually destroying Israel.

Zahar, a prominent Hamas leader sworn into the Palestinian Authority cabinet last week, told the Xinhua news agency that he is certain the goal will be realized, because "There is no place for Israel on this land."

According to the interview, Zahar maintained that Palestinians have no problem with the Jewish religion, only with the Israeli occupation, and said he does not rule out the possibility of Jews, Muslims and Christians living together in one Islamic state.

Zahar, considered to be among the more militant of Hamas leaders sworn into the PA government last Wednesday, conceded to Xinhua that Hamas could possibly accept a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, he dismissed Israel's declared support of such a solution.

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Report from Xinhua

[bemildred]

1. Zahar is an idiot. Another loudmouth politician.

Reminds me of the Bushites in their better days, or even now when blathering about all the "progress" in Iraq. If you read carefully though, he hedges his bets.

[MrPrax]

2. living together in one Islamic state?

Sounds good--fair and democratic, unless your a Zionist of course, then even the two-state solution is treason against the 'childrens' desert tales' crowd.

[Dominus]

3. An Islamic state would be fair and democratic

Unless, of course, you are a Jew, Christian, secular, liberal, female, LGBT, etc.

I don't know why you think it would be "good" to destroy the Jewish State and replace it with a Islamic theocracy.

[MrPrax]

4. So long..

as the Jewish people, where ever they maybe are protected, then so what...

But your on wrong board...people don't usually equate Islam with "a Jew, Christian, secular, liberal, female, LGBT, etc." The original dream of Israel is long long gone--so there isn't much to support.

[Igel]

5. My wife's cat is protected.

You'd hate to be protected: put in a virtual cage, rights proscribed, and actions either tolerated or dictated. It's rather like a protection racket: you do as we say, and we'll protect you from us. The antithesis of anything democratic.

Protection might be fine for pigs and monkeys (I suspect PETA might object), but not Jews or Xians or LGBT or females or atheists. Those are people, and have rights, dignity, and deserve some form of equality and freedom. Their rights and equality ought not depend on submission to Allah or Muslims in an Islamic state.

I neither want a keeper nor want to be a keeper. Same goes for having or being a "protector", as defined in the most common traditional Muslim view, irrespective of fiqh.

[pelsar]

9. great..we'll be "protected"

as long as we do what our master wants....

outside of that Israel is doing pecisly what was inevitable....fighting for its acceptance as an equal partner in this world....something thats never been accepted, be it the jewish persons or the jewish state....

[barb162]

7. Fair and democratic?... Saudi Arabia is an Islamic state

Name an Islamic state that is fair to women or non Islamic citizens.

[barb162]

6. It's good this Hamas leader is the foreign minister. Then the

whole world can see what Hamas is really about if they were too dumb to figure it out up to this time. His intent is made totally clear:"There is no place for Israel on this land."

[King Mongo]

10. There are two sides of his claims:

"accept a two-state solution"

... and...

"There is no place for Israel on this land"



If "accept a two-state solution" is possible, then "There is no place for Israel on this land"
means that there is no place for Israel in Yesha (West Bank) and Gaza.

On the otherhand, it is possible that he prefers that "There is no place for Israel on this land (greater Palestine)", but recognizes that a "two-state solution" is the more likely future situation which his children will learn to accept, kind of like the Likud party recognizing that the dream of "Greater Israel" has died.

It is important to recognize that many individuals on both sides dream of a "Greater" one-State solution to the conflict, but they are aware that they are going to be forced to accept a two-State solution.

[IndianaGreen]

8. I'm shocked, shocked!

Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!

Memorable Quotes from Casablanca (1942)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/quotes