Khaled Mashaal Has His Own Method Of Double-Speak

The Jerusalem Post reports that exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal claims that Hamas is ready to accept a Jewish state within the pre-1967 borders:

In an interview published Wednesday in Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayam, Mashaal referred to the 2006 prisoners' document as proof of this, saying "There is a Palestinian document and in it all organizations say they agree to a state in the 1967 borders."

The prisoners' document, also known as the National Reconciliation Document, was drafted by members of different Palestinian factions including Fatah and Hamas, held in an Israeli prison. It calls for the "establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital on all the territories occupied in 1967," but does not explicitly recognize Israel's right to exist within its pre-1967 borders. [emphasis]

Details.

But there is another detail that renders Mashaal's words worthless--his insincerity. Arafat also would talk about peace. In English, for the the western media. When he was talking to an Arab audience, Arafat would talk jihad. All part of the double-speak Arafat was famous for.

Meshaal, on the other hand, has a poor English. However, as Eric Trager points out, Mashaal has found another way to mislead: instead of talking peace to the West and calling for war to his own people, Mashaal talks peace to the West and just keeps his own people in the dark:

Meshal has apparently located an alternate strategy for producing effective double-speak: issuing conciliatory statements towards Israel that are withheld from his Palestinian base through Hamas’ press censorship. Indeed, in an interview with the pro-Fatah al-Ayyam, Meshal declared Hamas’ support for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza—in theory, a major concession considering the Hamas Charter’s call for raising “the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.” Yet Hamas’ political base will never hear of Meshal’s statement, as Hamas has banned al-Ayyam in Gaza for the past fifty days. Even Gaza’s Internet users will be left in the dark: the online edition of al-Ayyam says nothing of Meshal’s openness to a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders, and only carries his statements regarding Palestinian prisoners and failed ceasefire negotiations. As a result, Meshal’s supposed concession carries no political price, and therefore no political significance.

That won't stop the apologists for Hamas from claiming that here is proof of the need to engage Hamas in dialog or to remove the boycott of funds to Hamas.

Hamas may have found a way towards gaining the coveted "moderate" label while expending even less political capital than Abbas and the PA have had to.

Technorati Tag: Hamas and Khaled Mashaal.