I always hear that the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas will continue as long as both sides are uncompromising. That’s very true! Both sides are indeed uncompromising. Neither Hamas nor Israel is willing to make concessions. And I’m glad about that!

Concessions won’t bring peace between Israel and Hamas! Considering the content and intent of both the Israeli Declaration of Independence and the founding charter of Hamas, there can be peace in the Middle East only when either the demands of the Israeli Declaration of Independence or the demands of the founding charter of Hamas are fully and unconditionally accepted. A compromise isn’t possible!

The founding charter of Hamas declares:

„Article 7: The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: ‘The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’“

„Article 13: Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. (…) There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.“

„Article 15: The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews‘ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.”

Hamas calls for total war against Israel and the destruction of all Jews worldwide. The Fatah frequently preaches with powerful and certain words about the sacred duty of killing Jews. On the 47th anniversary of Fatah, Mufti Muhammad Hussein, who was personally appointed by Mahmoud Abbas as „spiritual leader of the Palestinians“, reiterated that peace can be achieved only through the destruction of all Jews. Streets and squares are named after people, who’ve murdered Jews; their families are handsomely rewarded by Fatah and Hamas, often with money from so-called development aid, which is also funded by the European Union. How could any concessions be made with such organizations? Should Israel suggest: „if you don’t kill all Jews“. What could a compromise possibly look like: „Agreed. How about just six million?“

People who scream „Jews, get out of my country, my city, my neighborhood,“ don’t want peace with Jews, but a peace without Jews. They want Jews to disappear and consider their very existence as the problem. The desire for peace without Jews is widespread throughout the Islamic world. When the Gaza Strip was placed under Palestinian administration in 2005, all Jews were expelled within a few days. On the morning of September 12, when the last Jews left the area at the Kissufim border crossing, Arabs celebrated frenetically with gun shots in the air and motorcades. Abandoned synagogues were torched. It was a real “Gaza Kristallnacht“. Gaza signed for a peace without Jews, not with Jews. In the following years, Hamas fired countless rockets at Israel with the intention to kill as many Jews as possible.

The extermination of Jews is cemented – without compromise – in Article 7 of the founding charter of Hamas. Therefore, for the Jews there remains only resistance and self-defense! In February of 2010, the deputy minister of Hamas‘ Ministry of Religious Endowments, Abdallah Jarbu, reiterated his principle views:

“They (Jews) want to present themselves to the world as if they have rights, but, in fact, they are foreign bacteria – a microbe unparalleled in the world. It’s not me who says this. The Koran itself says that they have no parallel: ‘You shall find the strongest men in enmity to the believers to be the Jews.’ May He annihilate this filthy people who have neither religion nor conscience. I condemn whoever believes in normalizing relations with them, whoever supports sitting down with them, and whoever believes that they are human beings. They are not human beings. They are not people. They have no religion, no conscience, and no moral values.”

These are the words of a man who believes that the mere existence of Jews in the Middle East has no legitimacy. That view reverberates in the politically correct phrase: „illegal Jewish settlers“. Quite a few politicians around the world have adopted this term, not merely for its anti-Jewish intentions explaining why Jews shouldn’t be allowed to live in certain areas, but also as a supposedly legitimate expression of so-called criticism of Israel.

Muslims can reside anywhere in Jerusalem. They don’t signify a barrier to peace! However, Jews, who build homes in East Jerusalem, are supposedly an obstacle to peace! In many countries there are Jewish settlements and neighborhoods. Worldwide, there are Jewish, Muslim and Christian neighborhoods in many towns and cities. Few people consider these neighborhoods as obstacles to peace. On the contrary: they are seen as models of peaceful coexistence, because they enable diversity, tolerance and acceptance. In Cologne, there’s the predominantly Muslim Keup Street neighborhood and in Paris, the Marais in the third and fourth arrondissement, a predominantly Jewish section of the city. In Israel, there are several Muslim quarters and settlements. Nearly twenty percent of Israelis are Muslims. For Israel, Muslim settlements inside and outside of Israel are not in themselves obstacles to peace! For many Arab extremists and a frightening number of Western observers, however, the very existence of Jews is considered a barrier to peace.

Jewish settlements are an obstacle to peace only to those who define peace as the absence of Jews. For those who seek reconciliation, the Jewish settlements are a guarantee for peace! For all those neighbors who desire peace with Jews, Israel extends its hand. The Israeli Declaration of Independence says:

„WE EXTEND our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.“

For my part, there aren’t any concessions possible in the matter! There can only be the unconditional recognition of Israel’s Declaration of Independence and the unconditional rejection of Hamas’ founding charter! If one party is good-willed for peaceful cooperation, but the other party strives for war and the annihilation of the Jews, then anyone who demands concessions from Israel must be a rabid anti-Semite or a Nazi. Jewish lives can’t possibly be bargaining chips. Not to mention the fact that Israel is the only place in the Middle East where liberated women, gay men or non-Muslims are not persecuted. Only in Israel can one live freely. Any concessions are unacceptable!

Whoever can’t see any differences between Israel and its Arab neighbors who support Hamas with its founding Charter; whoever considers both sides as equally wrong, because both sides are uncompromising, is also a Nazi. Hamas and Fatah reject any concessions because they hate Jews. But, Israel must reject any compromise because there simply can’t be any agreement which leads to the extermination of Jews! Anyone demanding concessions is a Jew-hater, who willingly promotes the extermination of Jews.

Worldwide, there’s a hell of a lot of Jew-haters. And they believe they have a clear conscience. I fear they’re not fewer in number than a hundred years ago. Again, the world remains silent and inactive.

(Translation: William Wires)