Operation Charm Offensive Towards Islamists

In the past few weeks, the Arab media have been buzzing with shocking news: the West is engaging in open talks with Islamists. While this is not really unexpected coming from the European Union, which has always been quite appeasing with Islamists, it is all the more surprising coming from the Bush administration.

It all really started with reports in the Arab press of a "secret" meeting in Beirut on March 22 between US officials and representatives of terrorist organizations. In attendance: Musa Abu Marzuk, Sami Kheter and Osama Hamdan from the Palestinian Hamas; Nawaf Mousawi from the Lebanese Hizbullah; Ibrahim al Masri and Assad Harmouche from the Lebanese Gamaa Islamiya; and three representatives from the Pakistani Gamaa Islamiya. Eli Lake from the New York Sun is among the only journalists in the US media who has reported at length about this meeting.

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The Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas -- whose charter calls for the destruction of our staunchest ally in the region, Israel -- is on the US and EU list of terrorist organizations. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zohri gave an interview to the French daily Liberation on May 6 where he declared that attacks against civilians are not terrorist attacks but merely "martyr operations". Also as Daniel Pipes noted in a recent article, President Bush stated in June 2003 that "the free world, those who love freedom and peace, must deal harshly with Hamas" and that "Hamas must be dismantled."

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Indeed, as Rifaat al Said, the President of a leftist opposition Egyptian party, said it:" The moderate Islamists do not exist. To be moderate is to accept the Other. And the very Muslim Brothers' doctrine is based on the non respect of other religions." Said deemed it a major mistake to think -- like Europeans and Americans do -- that democracy in a Muslim country has to go through a "moderate" Islamist power phase.

http://www.techcentralstation.com/052405G.html
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lovely.

Have a guess which site has this exact same article?

:eyes: