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Doubt Israel can be 'destroyed'
05/02/2006 17:13 - (SA)
Athens - Hamas leader Ismail Haniya expressed doubt on Sunday that Palestinians could "destroy" Israel, something that his movement advocates, in an interview with a Greek newspaper.
"Does someone believe that we can use guns to destroy a state that has F-16s and 200 nuclear warheads?" Haniya said, responding to a question about the prospects for maintaining the peace process while Hamas is still calling for the destruction of Israel.
"Are we destroying Israel or is Israel destroying us?" he asked in the interview, published in Greek.
The newly elected Hamas leader said his movement would not cede to international pressure to give up violence before forming a new government.
"Israel only left Gaza because of our uncompromising combat," Haniya said, adding that his group's methods would eventually provoke Israel to leave the West Bank as well.
Hamas will give up violence only if Israel withdraws from borders determined in 1967 and frees political prisoners, he said.
Haniya said he was renewing a 10-15-year ceasefire proposal made in 1988 by his movement's spiritual leader, Ahmed Yassin, who was killed by an Israeli helicopter attack in March 2004.
Hamas, which won elections on January 25, will form a government representing all Palestinians, Haniya said.
He called for a "unified Palestinian army, which Israel refuses", and said Hamas was not planning to fight for control of Palestinian security forces.
Hamas, which was behind dozens of attacks on Israel in the last five years, is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.
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