December 12 , 2006
www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/ismail_...

Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya firmly positioned himself in the
Iranian-Syrian axis during visits to Damascus and Teheran. He made it clear
that Hamas rejected Israel's right to exist and supported its destruction by
terrorism. He totally rejected the demands of Abu Mazen, the Quartet and the
international community.

Overview

 + Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya is currently making the rounds of the
Arab states. He began on December 3 in Qatar and spent December 3-7 in Syria
. Between December 7-11 he visited Iran and from there left for Sudan .

 + During his visits to Damascus and Teheran he met with senior government
officials. In Syria he met with the president, Bashar Assad, and the vice
president, Farouk al-Sharaa. In Iran he met with leader Ali Khamenei and the
president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Those meetings clearly sent the message that
while Abu Mazen relied on the west and on pro-Western Arab states such as
Egypt , Jordan and Saudi Arabia , Hamas pinned its hopes on the
Iranian-Syrian camp ("the axis of evil"), from which he expected to receive
financial, military and political support.

+ Ismail Haniya exploited his visits to Syria and Iran to make a clear
statement of the Hamas government's ideology and political policies. He
plainly avowed that Hamas had no intention of abandoning that ideology, at
the core of which were its absolute refusal to recognize Israel and support
for a terrorist campaign to destroy it, while totally rejecting the demands
made by Abu Mazen, the Quartet and the international community.

+ On the practical level:

- Ismail Haniya's Iranian hosts promised to support the Hamas government in
every area (apparently including military matters as well). Regarding
finances, on December 11 the Hamas Website reported that the Iranians had
promised Haniya $250 million in aid for a number of development projects. Of
that amount, $100 million would cover the 2007 salaries of employees working
for the ministries of welfare, labor and culture for six months. 1
Forty-five million dollars of the Iranian money was earmarked as allowances
for Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails and support for their over the next six
months. The Iranian funding also included aid for 3,000 Palestinian
fishermen and 100,000 unemployed workers. 2

- In addition, Haniya received a promise of $22 million in Qatar to pay
salaries of teachers and of 11,000 employees of the health ministry, and
funding for a series of projects. One of those mentioned was the
establishment of an Islamic bank with an initial capital of $50 million, the
establishment of a Palestinian "sports city" and a project called "The
Islamic religious endowment of Jerusalem," which would allot $7 million a
month to residents of "occupied Jerusalem" (Hamas Website, December 3).

- In our assessment, behind Hamas's unequivocal alignment with the
Iranian-Syrian axis lies the fact that Iran is considered the rising force
in the Middle East , andha expects to receive support from them to continue
its strategy to destroy the State of Israel. The United States , on the
other hand, is regarded by Hamas (which is probably influenced by Iran and
Syria ) as having been weakened by both having sunk into the mud of the
"Iraqi swamp" and recent internal developments, i.e., the results of the
Congressional elections and the conclusions of the Baker-Hamilton Report.
Thus it would seem that Hamas is of the opinion that its political isolation
can be ended and that the economic "siege" wielded by the Western countries
will collapse without Hamas's having to pay any price that might involve a
moderation of its ideology and political principles. 3

+ A summary of statements by Ismail Haniya and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on key
topics made during his visits to Syria and Iran are in the appendix which
follows.

Appendix
A summary of statements by Ismail Haniya and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on key
topics

- Stubborn denial of the State of Israel 's right to exist and plans to
destroy it

 During his meeting with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on December
9, Haniya stated that the Palestinian government " does not recognize the
exploitive Zionist entity ." The Hamas government, he said, aspired to
"nullify the oppressive agreements with the counterfeit entity" and "invest
efforts to achieve the objectives of the Palestinian people and to liberate
holy Jerusalem " (IRNA, December 10). He stressed that " the Palestinian
government will never recognize the Zionist entity, and its support for
jihad and resistance [i.e., terrorism] will continue " (Hamas Website,
December 10). He also noted that "the right of return is a holy right which
[the Palestinians] will never relinquish." (Al-Jazeera TV, December 4).

- Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Haniya that " Israel , which
stole Jerusalem [from the Arabs], should never be recognized ." He said that
those countries which "sponsor the Zionist entity," especially the United
States and Britain , have begin to question the benefits they reap from "the
continued existence of the counterfeit entity" (IRNA, December 10).
Ahmadinejad urged Haniya not to give in to pressure to recognize Israel and
to continue his fight against the Jewish state (Reuters, December 9).

 - The destruction of Israel through a terrorist campaign (jihad and
"resistance")

In a speech given at Al-Yarmoukh refugee camp near Damascus , Ismail Haniya
praised the Palestinian "resistance" (i.e., terrorism) and said it would
continue. He also applauded the female suicide bomber who recently blew
herself up near IDF soldiers, the Palestinian civilians who served as human
shields to prevent attacks on terrorist-operatives, and the women in Beit
Hanoun who enabled terrorist-operatives trapped in a mosque to escape during
an IDF action (Al-Jazeera TV, December 4).

- During a meeting with Ahmadinejad and other senior Iranian officials
Ismail Haniya repeatedly emphasized that his government would continue to
support jihad and "resistance" (i.e., terrorism) against Israel . He said
that "resistance" was "the only way to liberate Palestine " (IRNA and Hamas
Website, December 10). In a Friday sermon in Teheran he said that the
Palestinians would never give up the "resistance" and would continue the
jihad until "the liberation of Jerusalem " and the return of the refugees.
At the Sharif University of Technology he stated that " the Palestinian
government will never arrest operatives engaging in jihad " and expressed
his hope to the audience of Iranian youth that "some day we will meet in
liberated Palestine or in paradise" (ISNA, December 10).

- At a reception for Ismail Haniya, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that "the
Palestinian government has to support the resistance of the Palestinian
people until it achieves it goals." He added that "the resistance of the
Palestinian people will lead to a final victory [over the State of Israel]."
He claimed that the pressure exerted by "the Zionist entity" on the
Palestinians would not continue because the United States , Israel 's main
supporter, "is now weakened and undermined" (IRNA, December 10).

- Iran as the Islamic "strategic depth" for the Palestinians

In a speech given after Friday prayers in Teheran, Haniya stated that "they
[the Israelis] think that the Palestinian people stand alone in this battle.
They are wrong. We are part of our nation [the nation of Islam] and we have
strategic depth here, in Iran, and in all the Arab states.We stand by Iran
in its resistance to American pressure and oppose the American-Zionist
takeover of our Arab Islamic region.We hope that the resistance in Iraq will
overcome [the Americans] and lead to the expulsion of the American
occupation from the lands of our sister, Iraq." (Al-'Alam TV, December 8).

Haniya thanked the Iranian regime for its support of the Palestinians,
saying it made Muslims proud and strengthened the men of the Palestinian
"resistance" [i.e., members of the terrorist organizations] (IRNA and Hamas
Website, December 10). Ahmadinejad said that "the Iranian people will not be
found lacking regarding all forms of support," a possible hint at military
support as well, and called upon the Palestinian government to continue
supporting the "resistance" (i.e., terrorist organizations) and terrorist
organizations until Palestine was liberated (Reuters, December 9).

- The internal Palestinian arena

During his visit to Teheran Ismail Haniya expressed severe criticism of the
PLO executive committee's decision calling for early elections to the
Palestinian Legislative Council and presidency, calling it "an attempt to
overthrow [the government], which increases the tension and [deepens] the
crisis." He blamed Fatah for causing the negotiations for a national unity
government to fail and said that the attempt to drag the Palestinians into
elections was a lack of respect for the will of the Palestinian people.

Haniya called for the establishment of a Palestinian national unity
government to "foil the American-Zionist plot" (IRNA, December 9). He said
he would agree to a national unity government based on "the national
reconciliation document" ("the prisoners' document"). However, in an
interview with Al-'Alam TV on December 10, he explained that the prisoners
document made no mention of recognition of the "Israeli occupation" and
expressed his firm opposition to fulfilling the demands made by the Quartet
(Al-'Alam TV, December 10).
-------

1 That was done because those ministries are viewed as crucial in
strengthening Hamas's influence in Palestinian society. On the other hand,
no promise was made that employees of the security services subordinate to
Abu Mazen would receive their salaries regularly.

2 Only time will tell if all the aid is provided, and how it is transferred
to the Palestinian Authority.

3 That was clearly expressed by Khaled Mashaal in an interview the Italian
newspaper La Repubblica on December 10. He claimed that the "siege" on the
Palestinian Authority was collapsing, that the Arab League did not uphold it
and that European countries were secretly in contact with Hamas. He also
claimed that were contacts with senior European officials regarding relief
of the siege (Syrian TV, December 7). Ahmad Yussuf, Haniya's advisor,
claimed that a Hamas delegation visiting Europe had met with a highly-placed
delegation of the American Democratic party and with other important
American figures ( Ma'an News Agency , December 7). So far no confirmation
has been received.

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