Hamas condemns US for killing Bin Laden (updated)

From AP:

The leader of the Palestinian militant Hamas government in Gaza has condemned the United States for killing al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh says the operation is "the continuation of the American oppression and shedding of blood of Muslims and Arabs."

Haniyeh told reporters in Gaza on Monday that although Hamas had its differences with al-Qaida, his group condemns the assassination of "a Muslim and Arabic warrior" and prays that bin Laden's "soul rests in peace."

(Update: In Arabic he called Bin laden a "mujahid" - a holy warrior.)

This is the group that Jimmy Carter believes is the key to peace.

Based on my years of contacts with Fatah and Hamas, I am confident that, if handled creatively and flexibly by the international community, Hamas' return to unified Palestinian governance can increase the likelihood of a two-state solution and a peaceful outcome.

Jimmy believes that a group that considers Bin Laden a warrior and hero, and that shoots guided missiles at schoolbuses, is going to make peace. What a tool.

Meanwhile, Islamic Jihad's Palestine Today's headline on Osama Bin Laden's death reads "Martyrdom of "the leader of al Qaeda" bin Laden through a precise operation, and the United States has his body."

Islamic Jihad, it will be recalled, hosted a reconciliation meeting between Hamas and Fatah last week. So they must be a great group by Carter's standards as well, since they also encourage the PA to include radical Islamist terror groups into its government.

Someone should really ask "The Elders" what their official position on the assassination of Bin Laden is. Since their entire shtick is that they are so old that they can speak their minds without any political pressure (sort of like Helen Thomas), it would be most enlightening to see if Carter condemns it as an extrajudicial killing in another country and an illegal act.

Carter's WaPo op-ed proves, again, he is an idiot

A couple of points in Jimmy Carter's op-ed in the Washington Post today calling on the world to embrace an illusory Palestinian Arab "unity" government that is filled with terrorists.

One is that Carter is almost certainly mixing up what he wanted to hear with what he did hear from Khaled Meshal:

In my talks with Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, he said Hamas would accept a two-state agreement that is approved in a Palestinian referendum. Such an agreement could provide mutual recognition — Israel would recognize an independent Palestinian state and Palestine would recognize Israel. In other words, an agreement will include Hamas’s recognition of Israel.

Meshal is not generally a liar, but he is good at stretching the truth to gullible Westerners. He's pretty open about his anti-Israel positions. And what he has said publicly is not that Hamas would accept a two-state solution, but that Hamas would temporarily accept a Palestinian Arab state in the West Bank and Gaza as a first stage towards the destruction of Israel.

There is a world of difference between the two.

In 2006:

[Meshal] promised, "Muslims will take over the world," and he explicitly said his organization's plan is to deceive Israel with semantics.

In his speech, the Hamas leader explained that his people are willing to continue fighting Israel even if it takes 1000 years for victory. Mr. Meshaal also said one aspect of Hamas's current strategy is to rely on such tools as using statements like "we love peace" or "we have given up the option of war," while still planning Israel's destruction.

Mr. Meshaal also promised: "Before Israel dies, it must be humiliated and degraded. … We will make them lose their eyesight, we will make them lose their brains."

I have documented plenty of times that Meshal has played these very semantic games to imply recognition of Israel but without actually indicating any desire to do so.

And just today, a Fatah spokesman dismissed any chance of Hamas recognizing Israel:

A Palestinian official close to President Mahmoud Abbas has called the demand that Hamas recognises Israel's right to exist "unfair".

Mr Abbas's government is set officially to sign a reconciliation agreement with Hamas later today in Cairo, despite the terrorist organisation's continued refusal to fulfil US and Middle East Quartet demands to renounce violence and recognise the principle of Israel's legitimacy.

Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Shaath told Israel Radio that the requirements were "unfair, unworkable and [did] not make sense"."

He said all that was necessary was for Hamas to "refrain from any violence ... and be interested in the peace process".

Nice how Fatah has redefined the Quartet's requirements to allow Hamas to maintain its belligerent, intransigent stance. Just like Jimmy!

One other part of Jimmy's op-ed is noteworthy:

If they [the international community] remain aloof or undermine the agreement, the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory may deteriorate with a new round of violence against Israel.

Even Jimmy Carter, who loves peace and loves "Palestine," admits that they will turn to violence if they don't get what they demand.

He's half right. They will turn to violence if they don't get what they want. But they will also turn to violence if they do get what they say they want - because their demands will never end.

Everyone knows what these demands are: releasing all prisoners including the worst terrorists, forcing Israel to allow millions of Arabs to "return", kicking all Jews out of the Old City of Jerusalem and much of the rest of the city as well, and uprooting hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in a massive exercise of ethnically cleansing Jews from their traditional, historic home in Judea and Samaria. These demands have not changed one tiny bit since 1988, over decades of Oslo through years of a terror war.

It is nice to see that Carter admits that Palestinian Arabs are inherently violent. Too bad that this fact is so self-evident that it is not considered a problem anymore for enlightened, peaceful people like Jimmy.

Hamas leader calls on the PLO to withdraw recognition of Israel, increase terror

Hamas' al Qassam website reports that Hamas "prime minister" Ismail Haniyeh is calling on the PLO to withdraw its recognition of "the Zionist entity" and to emphasize terrorism ("resistance.")

Again I quote Jimmy Carter from last Friday:

The Carter Center commends the representatives of Fatah and Hamas for having the vision to begin the process of reunifying the Palestinian people. Mediated by the Government of Egypt, the agreement provides a framework for resolving long-standing issues regarding reform of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Palestinian governance, elections, human rights abuses, and the security sector. ...

President Carter said, "This agreement, and the promise of elections in the next twelve months, has the potential to arrest the spiral of intra-Palestinian human rights violations and preserve Palestinian democracy. It can also lead to a leadership representing all Palestinians capable of negotiating peace with Israel. Based on my years of contacts with Fatah and Hamas, I am confident that, if handled creatively and flexibly by the international community, Hamas' return to unified Palestinian governance can increase the likelihood of a two-state solution and a peaceful outcome. I encourage the international community to respect this decision by the Palestinian leadership and to view it as part of the larger democratic trend sweeping the region."

A hundred corpses in Daraa. Where's Jimmy Carter? (updated)

From Now Lebanon:

Al-Jazeera television on Friday reported that more than 100 corpses were seen on the streets of Daraa.

“In Daraa, more than 100 bodies have been seen on the roads and more than 150 [people] are missing,” an eyewitness told the TV station.

“Electricity is still cut and there is lack of water supplies and baby milk,” he added.

The eyewitness called on humanitarian organizations to save the people of Daraa.

“People from the villages around Daraa came to support the city but they were shot at by security forces.”

Syria has imposed a siege on Daraa, stopping all travel, communication and humanitarian aid.

The last time Jimmy Carter was in Syria, he eerily predicted this crisis by saying "The blockade is one of the most serious human rights violations on Earth."

Oh, sorry, he was talking about another blockade, one that didn't involve any civilians being targeted. He hasn't said a word about what is going on in Syria for the past month.

In fact, the Carter Center website is curiously silent about all the things happening in the Arab world nowadays. Nothing on Bahrain, Syria, or Yemen, and the only recent mention of Egypt was to congratulate them on helping bring a terrorist group into the Palestinian Authority government.

Could it be because the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has given over a million dollars to the Carter Center?

And so has the Saudi BinLadin Group?

And the The Saudi Fund for Development?

And the Government of The United Arab Emirates?

And the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development?

And the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation?

And the The OPEC Fund for International Development?

And the The Sultanate of Oman?

And His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said also of Oman?

No, perish the thought. No doubt Jimmy Carter is not swayed at all in his important humanitarian work by such considerations.

It is more likely that he would never have said a bad word about Arab repression anyway, and this is the reason that he gets so many Arab donors, rather than the other way around.

UPDATE:

In 2009, Jimmy wrote an article on behalf of his team of old busybodies called "The Elders' view of the Middle East." In it he says

During the past 16 months I have visited the Middle East four times and met with leaders in Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza.

Yet the entire article only talks about "Palestine." Apparently the Elders couldn't imagine that their gracious Arab hosts were anything but wonderful to their own people as well.