A Dream fulfilled

The Jerusalem Post reports:

'I dream of a map without Israel'
by Khaled Abu Toameh

Newly-installed Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar on Sunday reiterated Hamas's desire to eliminate Israel and replace it with an Islamic state.

Zahar's remarks, in an interview with the Chinese news agency Xinhua, dispel hopes that Hamas's presence in power would have a moderating effect on its leaders. His statements also stand in sharp contrast with Hamas's attempt to project a conciliatory and pragmatic image following the movement's landslide victory in last January's parliamentary election. (...)

"I dream of hanging a huge map of the world on the wall at my Gaza home which does not show Israel on it," Zahar said in the interview. "I hope that our dream to have our independent state on all historic Palestine (will materialize)."

This dream, he added, "will become real one day. I'm certain of this because there is no place for the state of Israel on this land."

If only Zahar would have a look at any of the schoolbooks of his eight children, he'd recognize that his big dream of a map without Israel has long been fulfilled in most of them. Zahar is not the first leader in the region to fall into that self-made trap.