[Bloomberg] Jonathan Ferziger - Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said in an interview Tuesday that Arab-Israeli peace negotiations since the 1991 Madrid summit have proven that talks are useless and that Palestinians need to fight to regain their land. Zahar says he doesn't believe peace with Israel is possible. The Hamas charter rejects the Jewish state's right to exist. Zahar said he isn't expecting U.S. policy to change under President-elect Obama. "He is 100 percent pro-Israeli and his positions are unacceptable." Mukhemer Abu Sada, a political scientist at Al Azhar University in Gaza City, said Hamas no longer seems willing to restrain its own militants, as well as those from the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. All are itching to step up rocket fire at Sderot, Ashkelon and other nearby Israeli population centers, he said.
2008-12-18 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive