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Experts predict Hamas election victory

Control of parliament would mean terror group forms next gov't


By Ryan Jones
January 22, 2006

Israeli experts are predicting the Hamas terrorist organization will win a commanding 40 percent of Palestinian Legislative Council seats in Wednesday's much anticipated general election, Israel National News reported.

Hamas' victory would give it control of the Palestinian Authority and the ?peace? process with Israel.

Israel and the West have warned against a Hamas takeover, threatening to cut off contacts with the PA and withhold financial aid if the violent anti-Israel group is the choice of the electorate.

As part of an ongoing effort to stave off such measures, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit insisted Hamas is prepared to recognize Israel's right to exist and enter into negotiations with the Jewish state.

?I am confident that Hamas will recognize Israel's existence, and I trust that it will be capable to live with the idea of negotiating with Israel,? Gheit told the London-based Arabic daily Asharq al-Awsat.

?I am convinced that in the political realm Hamas will act entirely differently than it has while engaging in armed struggle,? he added.

Gheit's personal feelings on the matter notwithstanding, Hamas' leading candidates have made it perfectly clear their platform of seeking Israel's destruction will remain unchanged, regardless of the election results.

?Hamas' mission upon joining the Legislative Council will be to eliminate the last remnants? of the so-called ?Oslo? peace process, Hamas chief Mahmoud al-Zahar told elaph.com in October.

?The national interest demands that we not cooperate with Israel in the security, political, or economic spheres,? Zahar explained. ?The facts should lead us to cut off our relations with the Israeli enemy by all means.?

More recently, popular Hamas candidate and mother of three deceased terrorists Mariam Farhat screeched on Egypt's Dream2 TV that ?peace? in the Middle East ?means the liberation of all of Palestine, from the [Jordan] to the [Mediterranean] Sea.?

Once this goal is realized, the Jews of the region are welcome to make peace with their Arab neighbors.

?They may live under the banner of the Islamic state. That is the future of Palestine that we are striving towards,? Farhat stated.

London's The Guardian reported Friday that Hamas recently hired a public relations firm to convince Western donor states that the group is not opposed to Jewish life, but Jewish sovereignty in the Middle East.

Nashat Aqtash said his new client does not ?need the international community to accept Hamas ideology, we need it to accept the facts on the ground. We are not killing people because we love to kill. People view Hamas as loving sending people to die.?

Aqtash has advised Hamas leaders to assert they are a peaceful organization that was forced to fight to Israel's rebirth in 1948, though the remarks of less scheming members such as Farhat would clearly belie that claim.

As devout adherents of Islam, Hamas is open to Jews living under Islamic rule as second-class citizens, but in accordance with Muslim scripture, cannot accept non-Muslim sovereignty over any land that was at any time under the dominion of Islam.

Groups like Hamas have in recent years stated their goal of one day retaking Spain as well.

Ultimately, Islam seeks to subjugate the entire world under the banner of Allah.

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