Eldar’s Mysterious Hamas Compromise
In Ha’aretz today, Akiva Eldar criticizes the international media for not covering a supposed Hamas compromise:
The latest draft on a unity government that Hamas delivered to Qatar failed to receive even one line of international press, not to mention Israeli media notice.
Hamas failed, once again, to pronounce the word “Israel,” or declare (of course), “We recognize the State of Israel.” On the other hand, the document includes recognition of international law and a commitment to honor all agreements signed by the PA and Fatah, while demanding the rights and interests of the Palestinian people be guaranteed. Hamas also promises to employ legitimate means in the battle for ensuring Palestinian rights and ending the occupation. They differentiate these means from terror (some interpret this as a reference to Israeli terror). The document declares that the goal is bringing about the creation of a Palestinian state within territories occupied in 1967.
We are suspicious of any claim that Hamas has agreed to renounce terror and limit its territorial claims to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, it’s impossible to check the veracity of Eldar’s characterization of the alleged document, because not only does the international not report on it, but neither does Hamas. In fact, two days ago, Khaled Mishaal, the political bureau chief of Hamas, returned from Doha, Qatar, where he was conducting talks on Hamas tensions with Fatah.
The Hamas press release about Mishaal’s trip makes no mention of a compromise document delivered to Qatar. Perhaps it is Eldar–not the international press–which has some explaining to do?
This post was updated on Sept. 22, 2019 to remove a link which was no longer valid.
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