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Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar at a rally. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners April 3, 2006 |
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Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar on Sunday reiterated Hamas' desire to eliminate Israel and replace it with an Islamic state.
In an interview with the Chinese news agency, Xinhua, al-Zahar spoke about his "dream of hanging a huge map of the world on the wall at my Gaza home which does not show Israel on it."
"I hope that our dream of having an independent state on the entire territory of historical Palestine will be realized one day." This dream, he added, "will become real one day. I'm certain of this because there is no place for the state of Israel on this land."
In the interview, al-Zahar did not reject the possibility of Jews, Muslims and Christians living together under the sovereignty of a Muslim state, adding that the Palestinians never hated the Jews and that only the "Israeli occupation" was their enemy.
Al-Zahar also said that Hamas may make contacts with Israel in running the daily affairs of the Palestinians on some occasions, but stressed that these contacts would never be promoted to political talks.
He defended Hamas' declared goal of destroying the State of Israel, and said that he is convinced the world will eventually understand things.
Al-Zahar declared that Hamas will not disarm its military wing, adding that the Hamas government will continue to support armed organizations opposing the "Israeli occupation." "Why should we disarm the militants while the Palestinian territories are still occupied? The people have to defend themselves," he said.
Al-Zahar, who is the overall leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, also called upon the international community to give the Hamas cabinet a chance to show it was "clean and transparent."
He also said that the United States should abandon its long-time partial policy that favors Israel and should not act in a hurry to pressure the new Hamas government politically and economically.
Asked if Hamas would ever negotiate with Israel, al-Zahar said: "Israel wants to negotiate only for the sake of negotiations, but on the ground, it expands settlements and continues building the separation fence on Palestinian territories. Israel doesn't want peace, nor does it have any peace project. Therefore, we should not deceive our people and tell them that there will be negotiations."
But al-Zahar reiterated that it was possible that Hamas and its cabinet would accept a temporary two-state solution to the conflict with Israel, but expressed doubts over whether Israel really wants to see the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
"I want to ask, 'Does Israel believe in the idea of two states?'" he said. "Israel is deceiving the international community and it actually wants only a Jewish state and it just hopes to see the Palestinians have an autonomous regime."
'Al-Zahar continuing Iranian president's strategy'
Sources in Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said that al-Zahar is continuing the strategy initiated by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who recently called for Israel to be wiped off the map, Ynetnews reported.
"The voice is al-Zahar's voice, and the hands are the Iranian president's hands. Anyone who imagines holding negotiations with Hamas should read al-Zahar's interview and understand who we are dealing with," a source said.
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