UNRWA Head Sees No Evil, Hears No Evil

Koning-Abu Zayd: Wearing Blinders

UNRWA commissioner-general Karen Koning-Abu Zayd wears glasses, but they don’t appear to be doing her much good. In a softball interview today, Ha’aretz‘s Akiva Eldar asks her: “If you were Israeli, would you trust the Palestinians?” To which she amazingly responds:

Yes, and I believe that this will work, and that they are really interested in a two-state solution. Even Hamas people talk about the two-state solution and the Israeli state. They’ve accepted that.

Really? Well nevermind, then, the numerous Arabic statements by Hamas leaders to the contrary, like:

Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan, speaking April 2, 2007 on Al Manar TV:

In other words, I will not accept a agreement saying that at the end of the day, Haifa, Jaffa, and Acre are Israeli cities, and part of the Israeli land. It should, at the very least, say that these cities cannot be liberated or regained today, but I will not accept any solution that prevents any future Palestinian generation from acting to liberate and regain the rest of the Palestinian land, if the current generation is incapable of accomplishing this.

[…] This [Zionist] entity is incapable of making peace. This entity is based on plundering and aggression. Seeking peace with it is a waste of time. What should be sought is a true solution, which will restore all the Palestinian rights, and will lead to an end to the existence of this entity in the region. (Translated by MEMRI)

Ahmad Bahr, then acting speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, from Hamas, said on Sudan TV April 13, 2007:

Allah willing, ‘you will be victorious,’ while America and Israel will be annihilated, Allah willing. . . Oh Allah, vanquish the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, vanquish the Americans and their supporters. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them all, down to the very last one. Oh Allah, show them a day of darkness. Oh Allah, who sent down His Book, the mover of the clouds, who defeated the enemies of the Prophet – defeat the Jews and the Americans, and bring us victory over them. (Translated by MEMRI)

Palestinian Media Watch brings us more such statements:

Dr. Khalil Al-Hayyah, member of the Hamas political leadership and the Palestinian Legislative Council, stated:

The Hamas movement bases its strategy and its policy on that the option of resistance is the only option that can liberate Palestine from its [Mediterranean] sea to its [Jordan] river [ie destroy Israel]. [Al-Risalah, Hamas newspaper, April 19, 2007]

Hamas spokesman, Dr. Ismail Radwan, confirmed …that his movement will not recognize any existence of the Israeli enemy on an inch of Palestinian land and said,

We will liberate Palestine, all of Palestine…Palestine will not be liberated by negotiations, committees and decisions, it will only be liberated by the rifle and the “Al-Qassam” [rocket]. Therefore, prepare yourselves. [Al-Risalah, Hamas newspaper, April 9, 2007]

In a video of Ahmad Yassin broadcasted regularly March – May 2007, the founder and former head of Hamas anticipated the destruction of Israel:

Tel Aviv is gone. They are defeated, they have no words left. … When this process will end, they will become a state with no ability, helpless. They established a state to protect the Jews from death and murder. If death and murder chase them in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Netanya and everywhere among them, then they will say: ‘What am I doing here? I founded a state to protect me from death, and if death chases me, I want to flee and go back to Europe and America.’ [Al Aqsa TV, regularly, March – May 2007]

Former Foreign Minister and Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, stated:

Our position is the liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine. This is the final and strategic solution for us. There is a Quranic message for us, that we will enter the Al-Aqsa mosque, and the entrance to the mosque means the entrance into all of Palestine. This is the message, no one can deny it. Anyone who denies it must check his faith and his Islam. [Al-Ayyam, March 25, 2007]