Taquiya Alert

Aziz Dwaik, the highest-level spokesperson for Hamas and the elected speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, has claimed that Hamas is ready and willing to recognize Israel’s right to exist. His claim includes the changing of the Hamas Charter to reflect this claimed change in their relations with the Jewish State. This startling statement was made to British millionaire David Martin Abrahams in Hebron. He further claimed that Hamas leaders Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh support the idea of establishing a Palestinian State within the pre 1967 armistice lines. David Martin Abrahams passed this information on to the Jerusalem Post. The question that needs to be addressed is, exactly how much credibility does this revelation hold.

Aziz Dwaik was one of several Hamas leaders from the West Bank that were detained after the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit and spent nearly three years in an Israeli prison before being released a few months ago. From all appearances, Aziz Dwaik has all the credentials needed to validate these claims. Still, one must weigh his credibility against the current drive by Hamas to gain recognition from the international community. One must remember that Yasser Arafat, and then Mahmoud Abbas, had pronounced their willingness to recognize the right of Israel to exist and to change the PLO and Palestinian Authority Charters to remove the calls for the destruction of Israel. Neither of these documents have been changed one iota to this day despite the repeat of the imminent adjustments at every peace conference and oft in between. Should we expect Hamas’s promise to be any more valid? I do not think that would be wise.

I fully expect that Mr. Aziz Dwaik is practicing the Islamic principle of Taquiya, the calling in the Quran allowing Muslims to use deceit when dealing with infidels in order to serve the interests of expanding Islam’s reach and control. To this day, almost every single claim from Muslim countries, organizations, and terror groups were practicing Taquiya every time they stated a willingness to accept Israel’s right to exist. I have another reason to expect duplicity in this instance. Mr. David Martin Abrahams initiated the contact with Hamas intending to prove that Hamas is capable of moderate actions qualifying them be included in the Palestinian-Israeli Peace Process. In such a set-up, it should be expected for Hamas to give service to the supposition of their legitimacy as a partner for peace. This situation was the perfect situation for the use of Taquiya to affirm a false premise in order to gain legitimacy. This promise to grant Israel recognition holds as much truth as the Hamas promises to cease launching rockets and mortars into southern Israel. Very often when things have an appearance that things are too good to be true, they are probably the result of the use of Taquiya; or maybe I am just way too suspecting and cynical.

Beyond the Cusp