Soccer Dad

What dreams may come?

Ahmed Yousef dreams about peace. In Pause for Peace (h/t Elie's Expositions) he writes

HERE in Gaza, few dream of peace. For now, most dare only to dream of a lack of war. It is for this reason that Hamas proposes a long-term truce during which the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can try to negotiate a lasting peace.

And by what mechanism does he propose to reach a "lasting peace?" By a hudna of course.

A truce is referred to in Arabic as a “hudna.” Typically covering 10 years, a hudna is recognized in Islamic jurisprudence as a legitimate and binding contract. A hudna extends beyond the Western concept of a cease-fire and obliges the parties to use the period to seek a permanent, nonviolent resolution to their differences. The Koran finds great merit in such efforts at promoting understanding among different people. Whereas war dehumanizes the enemy and makes it easier to kill, a hudna affords the opportunity to humanize one’s opponents and understand their position with the goal of resolving the intertribal or international dispute.

Very noble.

Except.

Backspin points out

The Guardian reports that Yousef is stumping for the hudna in the UK as well. His sales pitch doesn't mention the Hamas covenant, which explicitly calls for Israel’s destruction. Even the IRA wasn't interested in destroying Britain.

Backspin also links to an HonestReporting report on hudnas

When Yassir Arafat infamously invoked Mohammad's hudna in 1994 to describe his own Oslo commitments "on the road to Jerusalem," the implication was clear. As Mideast expert Daniel Pipes explained, Arafat was asserting to his Islamic brethren that he will, "when his circumstances change for the better, take advantage of some technicality to tear up existing accords and launch a military assault on Israel." Indeed, this is precisely what occurred in Sept. 2000 when Arafat & Co. lauched a terror
assault upon Israeli citizens.

As for Hamas, they have proven time and again their commitment to a tactical hudna — replenishing their strength during the quiet periods, then returning with increased deadliness. As recently documented by The Washington Institute, Hamas agreed to no less than ten ceasefires in the past ten years, and after every single one returned freshly armed for terror. Hundreds of Israeli citizens have paid for these hudnas with their lives.

Similarly, Israel Matzav quotes an expert who observes that a hudna is war preparing not peace making move

Actually what Yousef is describing is what's called a 'cease fire' or a 'truce' in western parlance. The problem is that he has mischaracterized the true nature of hudna. In a blog post in August, I cited an article by Tashbih Sayyed, the Editor in Chief of Pakistan Today and The Muslim World Today, President of Council for Democracy and Tolerance, an adjunct fellow of Hudson Institute, and a regular columnist for newspapers across the world (in other words - the elusive 'moderate Muslim') (which I can no longer find at the original site) which described how Islam uses a hudna...

Foreign Policy Passport debunks Yousef's straw man argument

That "some" he references seems like a code word for pro-Israel and Israeli hardliners, right? After all, Israel Defense Forces Southern Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant recently told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Hamas is developing a formal anti-tank unit.

But among those "some" is Musa Abu Marzouq, the former head of Hamas's Political Bureau. In a 1995 interview he told Khaled Hroub, a Palestinian journalist and author of the 2002 book Hamas: Political Thought and Practice, that hudna is an acceptable means to achieve an "interem solution" that creates a Palestinian state in the occupied territories, but "the best method in practice to achieve progress beyond the interim solution ... is jihad and armed resistance." Hroub's research shows that Hamas considers hudna a means to avoid direct conflict with Israel, while giving Hamas the chance "to alter the balance of power" in order to achieve its ultimate solution, a Middle East without Israel. Hudna doesn't guarantee the resumption of violence, but it also doesn't take it off the table.

Even progressive talk show hosts Bruno and the Professor find the claim a bit dubious

You can go to work on the subway, feeling satisfied that peace is at hand as you read an encouraging op-ed in the Times by the Hamas Prime Minister, then read the news from Israel that Hamas is organizing a full-fledged army complete with battalions and divisions.

So what do we have? A newspaper that, last week, objected to Israel's bringing a legitimate political party into the government, now allows a representative of a terrorist party to propogandize in its pages.

Just like when the Washington Post gave a platform to Yousef's boss, Ismail Haniyeh, a few months ago, the New York Times can't defend itself by claiming its promoting debate. It is giving a platform to a terrorist.

Case closed.

Yousef claims that he hopes to dream. Given his Hamas affiliation what dreams - if any - does he hope to allow Israelis to have?

More at memeorandum.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Technorati tags: Israel, Hamas, Hudna.

Posted by SoccerDad at November 2, 2006 12:46 AM | TrackBack