@gungasnake,
gungasnake wrote:By firing several thousand rockets into Israel's southern cities over the last three years after Israel vacated Gaza unilaterally?
No, by saying so explicitly. A Hamas spokesperson has indicated willingness to engage a generational truce with Israel in exchange for a Palestinian state.
Quote:Ahmed Yousef, Hamas's political adviser to de-facto Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, told the Middle East Times during an interview in his office in Gaza City, "In the next few years we would consider a long-term 'hudna' [or ceasefire] with Israel for 10 to 15 years."
"If Israel ceases its occupation of Palestinian land, halts military incursions into Gaza and the West Bank and recognizes the right of return of Palestinian refugees," Yousef added, "we would be prepared to sign a ceasefire with them."
When asked about what would happen in the aftermath of a long-term ceasefire agreement with Israel, Yousef explained that it was up to the next generation of Palestinians to decide.
"The current leadership of Hamas will not recognize a Jewish State, but maybe the next generation will be smarter than us and reach a different consensus as to a mutually acceptable accommodation with Israel.
"Perhaps if they have had the chance to live in an environment where there is not daily bloodshed, bombardments, bombings and killings and an economic siege they would be more approachable in regard to a peace settlement," Yousef said.
"[Palestinian President] Mahmoud Abbas and even [former Palestinian leader] Yasser Arafat recognized Israel. There are no rockets being fired from the West Bank, and in fact Abbas' security forces are arresting and disarming Hamas members at the behest of Israel," he said.
"Yet Israel is continuing to build settlements, expropriate our natural resources such as water. Furthermore, Israel has done nothing to ease the movement and access restrictions caused by nearly 700 checkpoints there which have crippled the Palestinian economy and made life unbearable for Palestinians," he pointed out, and asked: "What does the West say about this?"
"But really, there is so much hypocrisy in the West when they focus on our refusal to recognize Israel," Yousef told the Middle East Times, "while Israel does everything possible to prevent the establishment of a viable Palestinian state."
http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/03/14/ceasefire_fails_hamas_says_truce_possible/1762/
Israel vacated Gaza but controls its borders and airspace, this would be considered an act of war against any sovereign state, and they've made clear that they aren't willing to make peace without said sovereignty.
Neither were our founding fathers.
Palestinian leaders have recognized Israel for some time, but Israel has avoided territorial negotiations by arguing that certain factions (Hamas) or individuals (Arafat) just can't be negotiated with.
And on Israel's side, Likud is a major Israeli party that also doesn't recognize the Palestinian's right to exist and does everything they can to avoid any settlement with Palestinians. Israel too has its elements that are not willing to make the territorial concessions needed for a two-state solution.
And please support your contention that two million people only have suicide bombing as a skill. By all accounts I have read the total numbers of Hamas military operatives number in the low 5 digits (around 30,000), and you are wrong by orders of magnitude if you are arguing that the entire Palestinian population is engaged in the attacks on Israel.