The latest:
Fatah and Hamas agreed that future Palestinian resistance to Israel will utilize popular and peaceful means, rather than military moves, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared Saturday.
In an interview with the Euronews channel in Brussels, Abbas recounted his meeting with Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal about a month ago.
"We set the agreement's pillars, and Hamas agreed with us that resistance will be popular and adopt peaceful ways, rather than military resistance," the Palestinian president said. "The solution is the establishment of a state in the 1967 borders, and Hamas agreed to that, as well as to holding the elections on May 5, 2012."
Let's go over some of the things Hamas leaders said at the 24th anniversary rally last week:
"Resistance is the way and it is the strategic choice to liberate Palestine from the (Jordan) river to the (Mediterranean) sea and to remove the invaders from the blessed land of Palestine," Haniyeh told the crowd, which chanted: "We will never recognize Israel."Abbas has floated this idea a few times in recent weeks. The only English-language version I had seen was in Hurriyet in late November - and it is self-contradictory:
"Hamas, together with other stubborn resistance factions, will lead the people towards uprising after uprising until all of Palestine is liberated," Haniyeh said, referring to territory that includes the occupied West Bank and what is now Israel.
Denying speculation that Hamas would turn its attention to nonviolent resistance, Mr. Haniya said: “Today we say it clearly. Armed resistance and armed struggle are the strategic way to liberate the Palestinian land from the sea to the river.”
The militant Islamic group Hamas is ready to accept a Palestinian state within 1967 and is open to a discussion of recognizing Israel, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday.
“I would wish that Hamas would agree to this,” Abbas told reporters during a visit to Vienna. “Maybe this will be an issue to talk about in our next meeting.”
Abbas also said the group, which runs Gaza, would only conduct “peaceful” resistance.
So is he saying what Meshal really said, or what he hopes Meshal would say at the next meeting?
Since Abbas hasn't met Meshal since then, it looks like Abbas was just trying to massage his lie.
Of course, no Hamas-oriented website has noted this supposedly profound change in policy for the terror group. Because it never happened, it never will happen, and it never could happen.
But Abbas knows that no matter how ridiculous the claim is, he'll manage to snag a few credulous Western reporters to believe him.