An article in the Jordan Times from December 9 expresses exasperation at the ?summary media assertion that Hamas and Islamic Jihad see nothing short of the destruction of the state of Israel as their ultimate objective.? According to the Times article, that is simply not true.
?Western analysts,? asserts the Jordan Times article, ?often assert out of hand that Palestinian organizations like the Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas] and Islamic Jihad have dedicated themselves to the destruction of the state of Israel and that is the reason both groups are seeking to wreck all chances of peace by mounting suicide attacks targeting Israelis.? While, ?on the surface, the assertion sounds true, given the record of the two groups in carrying out attacks?? opines the author, ?A close scrutiny would reveal that there is indeed a difference over this issue among Hamas leaders who live under Israeli occupation and in exile outside Palestine.? Without providing evidence of this very basic ideological difference, the Jordan Times article asserts that ?a majority of those who live in the Gaza Strip and West Bank know well that such theories are only rhetoric and they have no alternative but to accept to live with Israel in the neighborhood.?
Yet, according to the Jordan Times editorial, there is maximalist sentiment among Hamas leaders in the Palestinian Authority areas, and they ?have slowly moved towards the hard line, as Israel intensified its brutality of handling Palestinian protests in support of their demands for a state based on the 1967 lines.? Not just among the Hamas leadership, the Jordan Times claims, but throughout the Arab society in the PA there has been a turn towards maximalist sentiment, which ?should be seen as a result of the Palestinians' sentiment that they have already compromised enough by agreeing to the UN Security Council resolutions.? That change aside, asserts the article, ?We all know and have accepted that this demand [for the elimination of Israel] is not feasible. Whether we like it or not, Israel is a reality in the region and it will not go away no matter how much some wish.? This is recognized by the Arabs of the PA, too, continues the Jordanian editorial, as ?majority opinion among the Palestinians is definitely in favor of picking up where the Oslo process left off with ironclad guarantees that their demands for Arab East Jerusalem and the rights of the refugees would be realized in the final agreement.?
Thus, while ?[t]here is definitely something fundamentally wrong with the summary media assertion that Hamas and Islamic Jihad see nothing short of the destruction of the state of Israel as their ultimate objective?? the Jordan Times article states, ?both groups have their strategic interests in mind in giving that impression.? What are those interests? ?A large constituent of the Palestinian community is refugees for whom a peace deal signed by Yasser Arafat and Israel covering the West Bank and Gaza without satisfactorily addressing their rights means an end to their cause.? This, of course, writes the Times columnist, plays into the hands of the Western media, whose ?repeated assertions in the media of the purported objectives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad are obviously designed to hammer home to the world that there are Palestinians who have nothing but the destruction of Israel in mind.?
?Western analysts,? asserts the Jordan Times article, ?often assert out of hand that Palestinian organizations like the Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas] and Islamic Jihad have dedicated themselves to the destruction of the state of Israel and that is the reason both groups are seeking to wreck all chances of peace by mounting suicide attacks targeting Israelis.? While, ?on the surface, the assertion sounds true, given the record of the two groups in carrying out attacks?? opines the author, ?A close scrutiny would reveal that there is indeed a difference over this issue among Hamas leaders who live under Israeli occupation and in exile outside Palestine.? Without providing evidence of this very basic ideological difference, the Jordan Times article asserts that ?a majority of those who live in the Gaza Strip and West Bank know well that such theories are only rhetoric and they have no alternative but to accept to live with Israel in the neighborhood.?
Yet, according to the Jordan Times editorial, there is maximalist sentiment among Hamas leaders in the Palestinian Authority areas, and they ?have slowly moved towards the hard line, as Israel intensified its brutality of handling Palestinian protests in support of their demands for a state based on the 1967 lines.? Not just among the Hamas leadership, the Jordan Times claims, but throughout the Arab society in the PA there has been a turn towards maximalist sentiment, which ?should be seen as a result of the Palestinians' sentiment that they have already compromised enough by agreeing to the UN Security Council resolutions.? That change aside, asserts the article, ?We all know and have accepted that this demand [for the elimination of Israel] is not feasible. Whether we like it or not, Israel is a reality in the region and it will not go away no matter how much some wish.? This is recognized by the Arabs of the PA, too, continues the Jordanian editorial, as ?majority opinion among the Palestinians is definitely in favor of picking up where the Oslo process left off with ironclad guarantees that their demands for Arab East Jerusalem and the rights of the refugees would be realized in the final agreement.?
Thus, while ?[t]here is definitely something fundamentally wrong with the summary media assertion that Hamas and Islamic Jihad see nothing short of the destruction of the state of Israel as their ultimate objective?? the Jordan Times article states, ?both groups have their strategic interests in mind in giving that impression.? What are those interests? ?A large constituent of the Palestinian community is refugees for whom a peace deal signed by Yasser Arafat and Israel covering the West Bank and Gaza without satisfactorily addressing their rights means an end to their cause.? This, of course, writes the Times columnist, plays into the hands of the Western media, whose ?repeated assertions in the media of the purported objectives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad are obviously designed to hammer home to the world that there are Palestinians who have nothing but the destruction of Israel in mind.?