By Ryan Jones
Mar 12, 2007
Hamas is getting tired of everyone trying to paint the group as a bunch of "moderates" just because it joined forces with the more secular killers in PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah.
First it was the international press, and now it's Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda that is accusing Hamas of really being peaceful at heart after it agreed to a unity government deal with Fatah.
But Hamas' leaders say they made a promise to Allah to destroy the Jewish state, and they intend to honor that commitment, even if it takes a little longer than they originally hoped.
A statement released by Hamas on Monday in response to criticism from Al Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahri read thus:
We will not betray promises we made to Allah to continue the path of Jihad and resistance until the liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine.
...
So be assured doctor Ayman, and all those who love Palestine like yourself, that Hamas is still the group you knew when it was founded and it will never abandon its path.
Hamas has offered Israel a 10-year truce in return for a full withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. Some in Israel and the international community are pressing Jerusalem to consider the offer positively.
But Hamas has made no secret of the fact that when those 10 years are over, it will see itself as free to resume the quest to annihilate the Jewish state. And it will at that point have a far easier time doing so having acquired Israel's most strategic geographical positions.