JIMMY CARTER: "SURRENDER, DOROTHY!"

Carter calls for funding Palestinians (JPost)
A day after Hamas swept to an upset victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections, former US President Jimmy Carter on Thursday said that Wednesday's voting had been orderly and fair. "The elections were completely honest, completely fair, completely safe and without violence," the former president said.

Carter, who led an 85-member international observer team from around the world organized by the 'National Democratic Institute' in partnership with 'The Carter Center,' urged the international community to directly or indirectly fund the new Palestinian Government even though it will be led by an internationally-declared foreign terror organization.

"The Palestinian Government is destitute, and in desperate financial straits. I hope that support for the new government will be forthcoming," Carter said at a Jerusalem press conference. He added that if international law barred donor countries from directly funding a Hamas-led government than the US and the EU should bypass the Palestinian Authority and provide the "much-needed" money to the Palestinians via non-governmental channels such as UN agencies.

"Regardless of the government, I would hope that potential donors find alternative means to be generous to the Palestinian people [even] if the donor decides to bypass the Palestinian government completely," Carter said, stressing that his main concern was to avert the "suffering" of the Palestinian people, which he said could lead to a new cycle of violence.

Hamas to Keep Weapons, Won't Change Charter"
The Europeans and the Americans are telling Hamas to choose between arms and parliament. We say we will go for arms and parliament and there is no contradiction between the two of them," Ismail Haniya, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, said Wednesday. Gaza Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said the group "will not change a single word in its covenant" calling for the destruction of Israel, and would continue its path of "resistance," even as it serves in the Palestinian parliament. (Reuters)

Hamas: Recognizing Israel Not on Our Agenda
After Hamas won a decisive victory in legislative elections, senior Hamas official Mushir al-Masri said on Thursday, "Negotiations with Israel is not on our agenda....Recognizing Israel is not on the agenda either." (AP/Forbes)

A Star Rises in Bethlehem - Hamas's - Michael I. Krauss and J. Peter Pham
Christmas scenes from Bethlehem notwithstanding, Bethlehem is no longer a Christian city. Muslims now vastly outnumber the departing Christians, and minarets outnumber church spires. At the present rate, in 15 years the only Christians in Bethlehem will be the holiday tourists. And just last year, the terrorist group Hamas won elections in the city. If one wants to know what the situation would be like if Hamas took power, one need look no further than storied Bethlehem. In an interview published in the Wall Street Journal just before Christmas, Bethlehem city councilor and local Hamas leader Hassan El-Masalmeh advocated a special tax on non-Muslim residents of the future Palestinian state. The tax, known as al-jeziya, is required by the Koran for dhimmis, second-class Jews and Christians. "We in Hamas intend to implement this tax someday....We say it openly - we welcome everyone to Palestine but only if they agree to live under our rules." (National Review)

Hamas Won't Change Its Stripes - Barry Rubin (Ottawa Citizen)
Members of the EU are preparing to do business with Hamas despite the fact that it is on their list of banned terrorist groups. Their rationale is "that heavy-handed actions by the EU could prove counterproductive, pushing Hamas further from the political mainstream." In other words, if the EU is tough on Hamas it might become radical! Why it might even demand Israel's destruction, dispatch suicide bombers, and be anti-Semitic! (Yes, that is what they are already doing.)

Is it really so hard to understand that a group that calls for genocide against Jews, extols terrorism, and demands a Taliban-style regime for Palestinians is not about to become moderate?