Hamas Knows Exactly The Value Of The Ceasefire

With all of the talk about a ceasefire, one point has been ignored:

It doesn't mean a thing:

Khaled Meshaal, the Damascus-based leader of the Hamas terrorist organization, makes no bones: Either Israel leaves all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza and agrees to the 'right of return' - or war.

...Specifically, he threatened, "If within six months, the international community does not come up with a plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders [i.e., on all the land liberated by Israel in the Six Day War - ed.] and for the return of the refugees, the Palestinians will turn to an armed struggle against Israel."

"We can have an intifada even when running the Palestinian Authority," Meshaal said, explaining that the ceasefire was not designed to bring peace, but is rather another stage in the war with Israel. "The current calm [cease-fire in Gaza - ed.], just like the escalation [before that], is part of the way we manage the conflict with Israel."

Meshaal is not the only Hamas leader talking like this:

Hamas Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniye, visiting in Syria, echoed Meshaal's position in a speech at a refugee camp. He said the Palestinians will not give up on "even one grain of sand of Palestine," and that Syrian President Assad promised him that all the Palestinian [terrorist] prisoners incarcerated in Israel would be freed.

Assad probably feels free to make promises like this since the West and the UN have failed to follow up on the investigation into the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005--and now anti-Syrian politician Pierre Gemayel was murdered in November. With his good friend Iran and the weakness of the West, Assad has little to fear--and Hamas no doubt feels the same way.

Hamas may feel some financial pressure from the US and Europe, but they were voted in back in January and will soon be finishing their first year in power. And get along with a little help from their friends.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Hamas.