19-Sep-12: Gaza is free of occupation and doing fine economically says Hamas arch-terrorist

al-Zahar pays his respects to Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran's
majlis (parliament) in Tehran, March 2012 [Image Source]  

Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar, a devoted terrorist who is often described in the news media as foreign minister in the Ismail Haniyeh Hamas regime in Gaza, is not the kind of person whose opinions we normally choose to quote here. When his views do appear in our posts, it's generally because we feel statements he has made publicly need to be taken into account by people who think they understand Hamas, of which he was a founder, or the Gaza Strip where he lives.

A Palestinian Arab news channel, Maan, based in Bethlehem, ran a major article about him and his views on Saturday under the headline "Zahhar: Gaza more secure than West Bank". (They spell his name differently in Bethlehem.) The ideologically and religiously motivated racists who stand behind those Gaza-bound truck and boat convoys might want to comment on where this dominant Hamas figure got his facts mixed up.

Some direct quotes from Maan:

• "Seven years after Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip, several things have changed both at the political and the economic level... Gaza is free of occupation"
• "Contiguity with the outside world is easier as visitors from all over the world visited the coastal enclave.” 
• "The economic situation has improved noticeably and the Gaza Strip became self-reliant in several aspects because lands in former Israeli settlements were planted. “We are self-dependent in several aspects except petroleum and electricity.” 
• "The economic conditions in the Gaza Strip are much better than in the West Bank; people in Gaza receive full salaries..."

al-Zahar also provides an explicit reminder of where the Islamist/Moslem Brotherhood/Hamas clique stands on the question of peace and co-existence:  

• Zahhar expressed opposition to a bi-national state as an option after the two-state solution ended in failure. “I told you previously that the outcome of Oslo would be a big zero.
• "A bi-national state means that the other nationality has the same rights in Palestine as a whole, and this means Hamas’ program has won, and good evidence can be found in what has happened around us.” 

That last comment is a reminder of statements al-Zahar has made in the recent past about violence being the only way forward. In January 2012, he gave an interview to Reuters [source] in which he said "Hamas was not prepared to relinquish the fight against Israel under any circumstances." That came as a response to a statement by another Hamas insider, Khaled Meshaal, then based in Damascus, who had floated the idea of Hamas accepting non-violent "popular resistance" against Israel. al-Zahar furiously rejected the very notion.

And about ties between Hamas and the nuclear-obsessed ayatollah-run regime in Iran? The relations "were deep-rooted and his visit to Iran was part of Hamas’ outreach policy".

al-Zahar is one of the most prominent of the inner circle of ideologues, jihadist thugs and religiously-inspired murderers of children who run things in Gaza. He deserves the wholehearted contempt of people with human rights and peaceful co-existence on their minds. But when he makes such cut-and-dried pronouncements, these ought to be flung into the faces of George Galloway, Lauren Booth and other such hypocrites who claim to support Hamas and the Gazans and to be motivated by a humanitarian preference for peace.

If you haven't already read it, this might also be a good time to have a look at a post we wrote three weeks ago, including some information about the six hundred millionaires reliably reported to be living in today's Gaza Strip: "30-Aug-12: How close to hell is Gaza? Depends whom you want to believe".