So, just who is this Hamas anyway?

OK, so now it looks like Hamas is going to be the “legitimate” government of the Palestinians. After all, Jimmy Carter has said so. He even thinks that we ought to ignore those pesky laws against giving money to terrorists and continue to fund the Palestinians. If Ol’ President Peanuthead says that it’s a done deal and Hamas will be running the show, who am I to argue?

So, let’s take a look at Hamas. But we’ll avoid the rampant optimism and flagrant white-washing being done in celebration of their victory over the kleptocrats of Fatah by the mainstream media. Let’s limit the discussion to Hamas’ own words and deeds.

And my, they’ve been busy little beavers.

The Israeli government has compiled a list of Hamas’ greatest hits since September 2000. The body count grand total of this “political party:” 52 suicide attacks, with 298 Israelis killed and 1,646 wounded. That puts Ted Kennedy’s single body count to shame, and dwarfs even the most rabid right-wingers ” Clinton Body Counts” in proper perspective.

OK, those are their deeds. How about their words? Let’s go straight to the camel’s mouth — the Hamas Charter.

Some dismiss the Charter as being the equivalent of a political party’s platform — a wish-list designed to appeal to all elements, and bearing little resemblance to actual results. That is so much self-deluding claptrap. This is their equivalent of a Constitution.

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So, what are some of the highlights (or, rather, lowlights) of their Charter? Once getting past the exhortations, preambles, grand pronouncements, and other frippery, let’s start with Article 11. How amenable is Hamas to negotiations and concessions with Israel?

The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that. Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated for Moslem generations until Judgement Day. This being so, who could claim to have the right to represent Moslem generations till Judgement Day?

OK. Not one inch of the lands they consider Palestine are negotiable. And “Palestine,” to them, is the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, and the whole of the modern state of Israel. Not a single inch can be conceded by anyone.

So, since the Jews have no right to this land, what will be done with it? How will it be governed?

This is the law governing the land of Palestine in the Islamic Sharia (law) and the same goes for any land the Moslems have conquered by force, because during the times of (Islamic) conquests, the Moslems consecrated these lands to Moslem generations till the Day of Judgement.

Spain, you might want to keep that in mind. After all, a good chunk of your territory was once conquered by Muslims. According to Hamas, a branch of the Islamic Brotherhood, they still have dibs on it.

Aw, but this is just talk, just puffery. They’re just trying to hype their supporters, right?

Drat, there’s that pesky Article Thirteen:

Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight.

Yeah, but that’ll all go out the window now that they have REAL power, I’m sure. Now that they’re responsible for their own governance, they’ll be much more amenable.

Now and then the call goes out for the convening of an international conference to look for ways of solving the (Palestinian) question. Some accept, others reject the idea, for this or other reason, with one stipulation or more for consent to convening the conference and participating in it. Knowing the parties constituting the conference, their past and present attitudes towards Moslem problems, the Islamic Resistance Movement does not consider these conferences capable of realising the demands, restoring the rights or doing justice to the oppressed. These conferences are only ways of setting the infidels in the land of the Moslems as arbitraters. When did the infidels do justice to the believers?

But Islam is a religion of peace, right? They’ll eventually come around to accepting a peaceful settlement, right?

There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with.

Women get special treatment in the Hamas Charter, too. They are singled out in Articles 17 and 18 for special treatment. For one, they need to be protected from such corrosive, corrupting, dangerous elements as Freemasons and Rotarians. Such vile forces could distract them from their obligations in Hamas’ ideal society:

Woman in the home of the fighting family, whether she is a mother or a sister, plays the most important role in looking after the family, rearing the children and embuing them with moral values and thoughts derived from Islam. She has to teach them to perform the religious duties in preparation for the role of fighting awaiting them. That is why it is necessary to pay great attention to schools and the curriculum followed in educating Moslem girls, so that they would grow up to be good mothers, aware of their role in the battle of liberation.

She has to be of sufficient knowledge and understanding where the performance of housekeeping matters are concerned, because economy and avoidance of waste of the family budget, is one of the requirements for the ability to continue moving forward in the difficult conditions surrounding us. She should put before her eyes the fact that the money available to her is just like blood which should never flow except through the veins so that both children and grown-ups could continue to live.

In the case of women like Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi, I can almost endorse this. For Cindy Sheehan, it ought to be mandatory.

Seriously, has NOW heard about this? Have they even once mentioned it?

Now, in Article 20, we get a serious bit of projectionism going on. Hamas outlines the tactics of its enemy.

“a vicious enemy which acts in a way similar to Nazism, making no differentiation between man and woman, between children and old people” — a fair description of a Hamas suicide bombing target. Ditto for “our enemy relies on the methods of collective punishment.” And the bit about “the enemy has opened detention camps where thousands and thousands of people are thrown and kept under sub-human conditions” sounds like a fair description of the Palestinian refugee camps in Arab nations.

Article 22 again goes after those brutal oppressors of the Palestinians — the Freemasons and the Rotarians. This time, though, the Lions Clubs also get their comeuppance.

I’m getting bored. I’m gonna fast-forward to another good part. I’ll skip another shot at the Freemasons, Loins, and the Rotarians in Article 28 (I wonder if the Eagles and Elks feel left out?). What is Hamas’ stance on religious tolerance?

Let’s see what Article 31 has to say:

Under the wing of Islam, it is possible for the followers of the three religions – Islam, Christianity and Judaism – to coexist in peace and quiet with each other. Peace and quiet would not be possible except under the wing of Islam. Past and present history are the best witness to that.

It is the duty of the followers of other religions to stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region, because the day these followers should take over there will be nothing but carnage, displacement and terror. Everyone of them is at variance with his fellow-religionists, not to speak about followers of other religionists.

This reminds me of another great experiment in social engineering. Segregation worked such wonders in the US, they want to try it in the Middle East. So remember, all you Jews and Christians: you can get along just fine with the Muslims, as long as you stay at the back of the bus, step off the sidewalk when they approach, don’t drink from their water bubblers, don’t use their bathrooms, and the like. Just accept your fate as second-class citizens, pay your Dhimmi tax, don’t build any churches, and for heaven’s sake don’t let anyone get the slightest hint that you’re not Muslim.

Finally, Article 32. Here we see that Hamas has enshrined that long-discredited, despicable forgery, the Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion. Nothing like the classics, no matter how many times they’re thoroughly debunked.

There are a few more Articles, but I don’t have the stomach to continue.

These are the core beliefs, the founding principles, of the group that many are saying can be legitimate “partners in peace,” and can be enticed into good-faith negotiations with Israel.

And these are the people that Jimmy Carter thinks deserves our continuing financial support.