By Stan Goodenough
Dec 11, 2006
Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal said Monday the Palestinian Arabs were willing to extend a 10-year ceasefire to the Jews and establish their state alongside Israel for now.
The offer was a bid to relieve the "Palestinians" of the economic hardships brought about by the West's sanctions on the PA.
During the decade-log truce, the Arabs would consolidate their state, after which they would be able to renew their onslaught against what would be left of Israel.
While applauded by some as an offer of peacemaking, Mashaal's proposal is in line with the Islamic strategy of waging Mukawama (ongoing warfare) against its enemies.
According to this doctrine, Muslims are permitted to sign ceasefires in order to strengthen themselves so that they can vanquish their enemies when the truce expires.
What Muslim's are not permitted to do - and what PA prime minister Ismail Haniyeh made clear at the weekend that Hamas would never do - is allow a sovereign Jewish state to continue existing on any land that has been under Islamic control in the past.
Islam teaches that to do so is an affront to Allah that brings his divinity into question and is therefore forbidden.