Ex-President and national embarrassment Jimmy Carter came away from his meeting with Hamas politbureau boss Khalid Meshaal in Damascus absolutely gibbering about the soo-perb diplomatic progress he'd made.
'They said that they would accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders if approved by Palestinians and that they would accept the right of Israel to live as a neighbour, next door, in peace,' Carter told a press conference.
Umm no, not quite, Jimmah.
Hamas quickly qualified Cwazy Unkie Jimmy's remarks:
The leader of Hamas says his Palestinian militant group is offering Israel a 10-year truce if it withdraws from all lands it seized in the 1967 war.
Khaled Mashaal says he made the offer to former President Carter in talks on Saturday.
Mashaal says Hamas would accept a Palestinian state limited to the lands Israel seized in 1967 — an implicit acceptance that Israel would exist alongside that state.
But Mashaal says the group would never outright formally recognize Israel.
So, Israel uproots thousands of its citizens and places itself behind indefensible borders next to a genocidal enemy who wants to destroy them - all for the promise of a temporary ten year 'truce'!
Sounds like a great deal to me - if you have a death wish!
It's important to put this in perspective. What Hamas is offering to do is a remake of the Peace of Hubidiyeh, an exploit of Mohammed's well known to all Muslims. Mohammed made an eternal treaty of peace with the Quaraysh tribe in Arabia - that lasted until he was strong enough to massacre them, even after they surrendered.
That's what Hamas is offering, and Carter is either stupid, senile or inherently dishonest to represent it as anything else...maybe all three.
The part about 'approval by the Palestinians' is also an important little detail to recognize...because it's highly unlikely, even if the Israelis were dumb enough to fall for it. Here's the latest poll results from Jerusalem Media & Communications Center, a Palestinian think tank:
The number of Palestinians who support attacks against Israelis continues to rise and more than half of them favor suicide bombings, according to a poll published this weekend.
The survey also showed that Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is still more popular than Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The percentage of Palestinians who support "resistance operations" against Israeli targets rose from 43.1 percent in September 2006 to 49.5% at present. Support for this option was highest in the Gaza Strip, at 58.1%, with 24.5% in the West Bank agreeing.
Palestinians who support bombing attacks against Israeli civilians rose from 44.8% in June 2006 to 48% in September 2006 and to 50.7% now.
Again, more Gazans support these operations (65.1%), compared with 42.3% of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Aside from the fact that these numbers make any peace deal with Israel unlikely, notice that Hamas is much more popular than Fatah, even in the West Bank. The only thing propping up
What Hamas is counting on is a continued erosion in Fatah's numbers until they can take over and add the West Bank to Hamastan. At that point, Hamas will be the Palestinian 'unity government.'
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