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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

An "Arab News" lie

From the Arab News:
Hamas accepts Israel with 1967 borders

Ismail Haniyeh, the deposed prime minister of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, yesterday said his movement accepts a Palestinian state alongside Israel with its 1967 borders with full sovereignty and Jerusalem as its capital.

“We welcome any push for achieving this dream if there is a real plan for resolving the Palestinian issue,” Haniyeh said in a news conference with visiting former US President Jimmy Carter here.

Really? Haniyeh accepted Israel?

Let's see how Ma'an reported it:

De facto Palestinian Prime Minister Isma’il Haniyeh said on Tuesday he would support any real proposal to establish an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.

Haniyeh’s comments came during a joint press conference in Gaza City with former US president Jimmy Carter. “I will exert pressures towards realizing this dream,” said Haniyeh.
He doesn't say he accepts Israel, just that he has no problem with a Palestinian Arab state in the territories.

We've seen this charade before, where Hamas supposedly is compromising by saying that they wouldn't stand in the way of a Palestinian Arab state but saying nothing about accepting Israel - fully knowing that wishful-thinking idiots will fill in the blanks for him.

Palestinian Arabs, however, know quite well that Haniyeh would never accept Israel. Palestine Today in Arabic reports it this way:

The President of the Government of Ismail Haniyeh, Gaza Strip on Tuesday said that he supports a Palestinian state in territories occupied by Israel in 1967, without mentioning that he recognizes Israel's right to exist, something Hamas rejects.
No doubt some Western news outlets will be trumpeting Haniyeh's statement as if he said he accepts Israel's existence, and nothing could be further from the truth.