Hamas government approved by Palestinian parliament

"The Koran is our constitution, Jihad is our way, and death for the sake of God is our highest aspiration." - Hamas lawmaker Hamed Bitawi

The Palestinian parliament approved the Islamist group's cabinet and program on Tuesday, clearing the way for it to take control of the government two months after the Hamas landslide election victory.


Chanting "God is Greatest" after the 71-to-36 vote, Hamas lawmakers hugged and kissed Ismail Haniyeh, their prime minister-designate who vowed to not to abandon the fight against Israel. Yadda Yadda.

Haniyeh's speech today was, of course different than the one he gave yesterday to the western media in which he paid lip service to peace and dialogue. The earlier speech drew flak from his fellow Hamas lawmakers for not being hardline enough.

On Monday, Haniyeh was telling western journalists that his government was ready for talks with the "Quartet" of Middle East mediators on bringing a "just peace" to the region.

Check out the contrast today, in Arabic: "We were born from the womb of resistance, we will protect resistance and the arm of resistance will not be touched."

Addressing new Palestinian legislator Mariam Farahat, the homicide bomber mom who sent three of her six sons on Hamas homicide missions against Israeli civilians and who's a Palestinian celebrity for appearing in a Hamas video showing her 17-year-old how to attack Israelis and telling him not to return, Haniyeh said: "This the fruit of the sacrifices by martyrs, including your sons. You've got to be proud of this day."

Of course, Haniyeh has probably studied up on the Yasir Arafat correspondance course of How to say one thing in English to credible journalists and another to the hometown constituency in Arabic.

The new Hamas dominated cabinet is expected to be sworn in on Wednesday by President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas is committed by its charter to Israel's destruction, as you might know. It will be intereresting to see whether the EU, the UN and Bush administration continue to fund a terrorist state, especially through the back channels of the World Bank, UNRWA and `humanitarian NGOs'....or enact sanctions against those who do.

Welcome to the new Islamofacist state.