by Jeremy Reynalds
Executive Director

Al Qassam Brigades-Military Wing of Hamas (from www.alqassam.com)

The Israeli cabinet met Thursday morning at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum for a special session in honor of the U.N.-instigated international Holocaust Memorial Day, due to be observed on Friday in capitals across the world.

But the gesture was all but lost, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem News Service (ICEJ) commented, as a dozen miles away in Ramallah, Hamas - the Islamic “resistance” group dedicated to the elimination of the Jewish State - claimed a landslide victory in the first Palestinian parliamentary elections in a decade.

Across the Israeli government, ICEJ reported, (http://www.icej.org/cgi-local/view….01/26/189318648) spokesmen and officials were unable to comment to the press. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert convened an urgent meeting with senior ministers and defense chiefs. Appointments were cancelled, schedules changed.

ICEJ reported that Olmert’s office had earlier said the acting premier believes Israel cannot trust a Palestinian leadership in which Hamas has a role.

“Israel can’t accept a situation in which Hamas, in its present form as a terror group calling for the destruction of Israel, will be part of the Palestinian Authority without disarming,” ICEJ reported Olmert told visiting U.S. Senator Joseph Biden as Palestinians flocked to the polls on Wednesday. “I won’t hold negotiations with a government that does not stick to its most basic obligation of fighting terror.”

By late morning, ICEJ reported, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Queri and the entire Fatah-led Palestinian Cabinet had submitted their resignations, hours before official results were expected, confirming the watching world’s worst fears: that the Islamic group would now be invited to lead a new Palestinian government.

Final results released on Thursday evening by the Palestinian Central Election Commission showed Hamas won 76 seats in 132-seat parliament, with Fatah gaining only 43. Hamas leaders proceeded to open the prospect of coalition talks with the members of the outgoing government, but senior Fatah officials rejected the idea.

“The Palestinian people has expressed its will and the decision must be respected,” ICEJ reported former PA Security Chief Jibril Rajoub said.

Speaking via video link to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday afternoon, ICEJ reported U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she had already telephoned Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to congratulate him for holding a peaceful and fair election process with a heavy voter turnout.

Abbas, she added, was elected on a “platform of peace. “Our position on Hamas,” ICEJ reported she added, “has not changed.”

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, ICEJ reported that President George W. Bush said the U.S. would not deal with Hamas until the radical Palestinian Islamist group renounces its longstanding call for the destruction of Israel.

“A political party, in order to be viable, is one that professes peace, in my judgment, in order that it will keep the peace,” ICEJ reported President Bush said. “Not until you renounce your desire to destroy Israel will we deal with you.”

The European Commission – the body responsible for underwriting the Palestinian Authority’s 60 million euro monthly payroll – used softer language, ICEJ reported. “It is clear that Hamas has really got a very large proportion of the vote,” European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told European Parliamentarians before official results were announced. “What is important is that we state we are happy to work with any government if that government is prepared to work by peaceful means.”

Blame was flowing in Israel, ICEJ reported. Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chair Yuval Steinitz told Israel Radio that the Israeli government made a grave mistake by allowing the Palestinian parliamentary elections to take place with Hamas’ participation in the first place– something outlawed under the terms of the Oslo Accords.

HAMAS COMMENTS ON THE ELECTION

A Hamas statement (http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/am/…cle_16610.shtml) obtained by the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) praised Palestinians and “various resistance factions” for what it called the “fatal arrow” they “directed against the will of the enemy who practiced all kinds of pressures and blackmails to divert the people’s will, stressing its pledge to ensure honest elections and to accept its outcome.”

In a Hamas statement obtained by the PIC, Hamas “affirmed its noticeable advance in election stations in the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the city of Jerusalem where canvassing process had started.”

The statement continued, “We, in Hamas, highly appreciate the widespread awareness displayed by our Palestinian people, and view the legislative elections as a step on the path of liberation and forcing the occupation out of our country, and a complementation to the great achievements of our heroic martyrs, prisoners, and wounded citizens.”

The PIC is listed by Aaron Weisburd’s Internet Haganah database (www.haganah.us/jihadi/hamas.html) as being the “official site of Hamas leadership in Damascus, operated by individuals in Beirut and elsewhere.”

On its website (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exe…8FBD2D5534.htm), Aljazeera called Hamas, “The new political force.”

The article read in part, “Following its shock victory in Palestinian elections, Hamas looks set to be involved in democratic government for the first time. Aljazeera takes a look at the Islamist movement branded a terrorist organization by the United States and many in Europe. Hamas stands for Islamic Resistance Movement and in Arabic means “zeal.”

The article continued, “It was founded in 1987 by Shaikh Ahmad Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi as an offshoot of the then Muslim Brotherhood organisation during the first intifada against Israel.”

Explaining Hamas’ goals, Aljazeera stated that Hamas is “formally committed to establishing a Palestinian state in its own borders and to the destruction of Israel. It has pursued this aim through a series of attacks on Israeli troops, settlers and civilians both in the Palestinian territories and in Israel.”

Nowhere is Islamic hatred against Israel clearer than in the frequent Internet postings of “Shayhka Maulani Aeisha Muhammad,” a self-described “servant of Allah,” and a prolific commentator on many radical Islamic Internet groups.

RADICAL ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVES ON HAMAS VICTORY

In a widely distributed e-mail, Muhammad began by writing, “Hamas has won and the traitor Abbas is out!”

She continued (sic), ” I send my blessings and congratulations to HAMAS on its ascendence to power. Surely ALLAH, the angels, the Prophet Muhammad … Shayhk Yassin, Abu Ammar and all the servants of ALLAH are happy and proud on this day.”

Muhammad then wrote (sic), “We expect that the International Community - especially the EU and the U.S. - will be giving HAMAS a hard time but our faith is in ALLAH and HE is our provider so we have no reason to bow to anyone except ALLAH Himself.”

Taking aim at Israel, Muhammad continued (sic), “HAMAS is now the head of state in Palestine and it was by the mandate of the Palestinians that it holds that position. If the UN, EU, US and the vermin ‘israel’ don’t like it, then it is just too bad. The fact remains that HAMAS now has the mandate of the Palestinians, and they are the ones with whom the world will have to deal with regardless of their like or dislike.”

Adopting a somewhat threatening tone Muhammad continued (sic), “Any sanctions that the EU or U.S. place on the People of Palestine for having given the mandate of power to HAMAS will be seen as a provocation and a despicable act of bad faith towards Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims at large. The People of Palestine have spoken, and that is the end of this matter. Therefore the International community would be well advised to give the leadership of HAMAS the respect it deserves and to refrain from bringing hardship to the already suffering People of Palestine. Under HAMAS leadership Palestine now has a genuine opportunity to fulfill its national aspirations.”

Muhammad concluded by saying (sic), “Everyone in the Arab and Muslim world must stand behind Palestine’s new leadership. While we are exceedingly happy to see HAMAS representing Palestine, we caution them to fear ALLAH and warn them against straying … ”

A post on a Hamas bulletin board (www.alqassam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3646) amplified what Muhammad said.

It read in part, “If we will take a quick look at the holy Qur’an and maybe this will give u an explanation as to why most of us do believe that Hamas is following the words of Allah…

“Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah and those who reject faith fight in the cause of evil, so fight ye against the friends: feeble indeed is the cunning satan” 4:76

The quote continued (sic), “Fight in the cause of Allah Those who fight you but do not transgress limits for Allah loveth not transgressors. and slay the wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out; For persecution is worse than slaughter but fight them not at the sacred mosque, unless the first fight you there slay them, such is the reward of those who reject faith. But if they cease ,Allah is Oft Forgiving Most Merciful. And fight them until there is no persecution. and the religion becomes Allah’s. but if they cease let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression” (2:190-193).

The writer continued, “I think this should explain enough for now. Oppression has not ceased and neither will Hamas, because this is Allah’s order.”

Another post on the same Hamas bulletin board (http://www.alqassam.com/forum/viewt…er=asc&start=11) from “Hamas Sister Fighter” and attributed to “Subhana Allah” read, “Those who resist Allah and His Messenger will be humbled to dust, as were those before them: for We have already sent down clear signs. And the unbelievers (will have) a humiliating penalty.”

Jeremy Reynalds
P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125-7693
Tel: (505) 400-7145
www.joyjunction.org
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