Hamas Vows to Continue 'Jihad'
CBNNews.com
December 16, 2007
CBNNews.com - An estimated 250,000 Palestinians gathered in Gaza City Saturday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Hamas terror organization.
Chanting "We will never recognize Israel," participants burned Israeli flags and cursed America as they swore to continue their jihad ("holy" war).
In his remarks, deposed PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said the quarter of a million attendees at the rally proved that Palestinians do not accept Israel's right to exist and believe that strict adherence to Islam is the only way.
Haniyeh cited the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon in 2000, Israel's 2005 pullout from the Gaza Strip, and the 2006 kidnapping of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Corporal Gilad Shalit, as evidence that Hamas' terror tactics work.
"Whoever insists on not recognizing Israel, clings to Allah and doesn't surrender in the face of the Israeli and U.S. blockade, his popularity grows despite American hostility," the deposed PA prime minister told the crowd.
Senior Hamas official Osama al-Mazina told participants the IDF was afraid to launch a major incursion into the Gaza Strip.
"Had they not been afraid of your resistance, the Israelis would have invaded the Gaza Strip a long time ago," al-Mazina reasoned. "But the Israeli enemy are cowards and the only language they understand is the language of force," he said, affirming Haniyeh's pledge that Hamas would never change its jihadist strategy.
"PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has sold out to the Americans," al-Mazina told the crowd, but he said Hamas was still ready to resume its dialogue with Fatah.
In a pre-taped speech, Damascus-based Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal said they were ready to launch a "third and fourth intifada" (armed Palestinian uprising) against Israel.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
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