Zahar: Gaza should become Hamastan

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By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
August 30, 2005

Gaza-based Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar says the volatile coastal strip he calls home should become ?Hamastan? after the IDF completes its withdrawal from the area next month.

Asked by Newsweek to comment on Israeli fears Gaza will become a free base of operation for his terror group following Israel's ?disengagement,? Zahar replied, ?It should be Hamastan.?

?Why not? We are not corrupt. We are serving the poorer classes. We are defending our land,? noted Zahar, referring to Hamas' social welfare programs, which provide it with a willing public to back and participate in its terrorist war against the Jews.

But Zahar said Hamas will not invite more international groups such as Al Qaeda to set up camp in Gaza once the Israelis have departed, something the West has expressed quiet concern over, even as it openly encouraged and now applauds the removal of the area's Jews.

?We are not in need of [Al Qaeda leader Abu Mussab] Zarqawi...or others. We have our own style.?

And Israelis can expect to again experience full-fledged Hamas-style terror very soon.

Zahar reiterated that the group's commitment to maintain a degree of calm will end by the close of the year.

Turning to the upcoming Palestinian Authority election, Zahar said that anyone who believes allowing Hamas to participate in the political process will somehow moderate and contain the group is mistaken.

?Containment will not succeed with Hamas,? insisted Zahar. As far moderation: ?We are already moderate.?

He went on to defend Hamas' tactic of using ?suicide? bombers to slaughter Jewish men, women and children as something that has been ?forced? upon the Palestinian Arabs.

Zahar ended by stating that peace with Israel was a futile effort because of the latter's insistence that a united Jerusalem remain its eternal capital.

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