A Hamas founder said there will be no peace with Israel unless his organization is sitting at the negotiating table.
Mahmoud al-Zahar in an op-ed in Thursday’s Washington Post also praised former U.S. President Jimmy Carter for his willingness to visit Hamas leaders during his current Middle East tour
“Now, finally, we have the welcome tonic of Carter saying what any independent, uncorrupted thinker should conclude: that no ‘peace plan,’ ‘road map’ or ‘legacy’ can succeed unless we are sitting at the negotiating table and without any preconditions,” Zahar wrote.
Zahar compared the Palestinians’ current situation in the Gaza Strip to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
“Sixty-five years ago, the courageous Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto rose in defense of their people,” he wrote. “We Gazans, living in the world’s largest open-air prison, can do no less.”
In an editorial placed opposite Zahar’s piece under the headline “Zahar is a terrorist,” the editors of the Washington Post explained their decision to print Zahar’s piece.
“On the opposite page today we publish an article by the ‘foreign minister’ of Hamas, Mahoud al-Zahar, that drips with hatred for Israel and with praise for former President Jimmy Carter,” they wrote. “We believe Mr. Zahar’s words are worth publishing because they provide some clarity about the group he helps to lead, a group that Mr. Carter contends is worthy of being included in the Middle East peace process.”
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