One year ago, I sat in the Nablus living room of the late Shaykh Hamid al-Bitawi, a leading religious figure in Hamas. We were joined by one of his sons, a man in his 20s. As an academic specializing in Islamist political movements, I was interested primarily in how (or if) Hamas was operating in…
The Forward’s interview with senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook was astounding, though surely not for the reasons intended. The terrorist leader said little of interest; it was boilerplate rhetoric — a mix of fanaticism and deceit to fool gullible Westerners. What was shocking, however, was what the interview revealed about some Jews. Abu Marzook…
While the Forward’s unprecedented interview with Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook didn’t demonstrate any shift in Hamas’s policies, it provides some insight into Hamas’s internal politics. The organization is now badly divided because its Political Bureau, including Abu Marzook, had to abandon its long-standing headquarters in Damascus. The external leadership has been attempting to reintegrate…
Reading the long interview with the No. 2 Hamas leader, Mousa Abu Marzook, reminded me of the first time I was given a chance to interview then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for the Palestinian daily Al Quds. At one point in the interview (the first ever to a Palestinian daily), which took place in…
The Forward’s interview with Mousa Abu Marzook highlights some fundamental truths about peacemaking: You make peace with your enemies, not your friends; you make peace not to be nice, but because it is in your self-interest; real peace must reflect a balance of interests, not an imbalance of power, and security arrangements, not trust, will…
The real significance of Mousa Abu Marzook’s Forward interview appears to be that the Hamas leadership wants to make sure that Israelis and the American pro-Israel community understand its positions and its terms. Under the influence of its mentor, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which is ascending to power in Cairo, it wants to be understood…
David Makovsky could not have been more understated in describing to the Forward Hamas’s somewhat bizarre charm offensive via Mousa Abu Marzook’s interview. “Unfortunately,” he said, “it’s a validation of those who believe Hamas has a far way to go before it becomes a legitimate Palestinian interlocutor.” It is indeed unfortunate, but hugely illuminating. Despite…
The opportunity to interview the second-highest-ranking official in Hamas came suddenly, unexpectedly and at the very worst possible time: just before Passover. The Forward staff was shorthanded. Worse, at home, we were shifting into full Passover house-cleaning mode. I tried hard to argue for doing this any other week. But Stanley L. Cohen, the attorney…
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