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A recent interview with the deputy editor of Italy’s largest national newspaper, Corrie della Sera, included a rather frank comment that Israel is mistaken if it thinks that Hamas will ever change it’s thinking and polices toward Israel. The remarks were made during an interview with the Jerusalem Post Arab Affairs Editor, Khaled Abu Toameh. Mr. Magdi Allam, a Muslim himself, and originating from Egypt, said that due to the inflexibility and goals of radical Islam, of which the Hamas organization is definitely a part, any possibility of peace between Israel and a Hamas led Palestinian State is impossible to attain. Mr. Allam, who has lived in Italy for more than thirty years, noted that Hamas follows the tenants of classical Islam, the same tenants that have been in inexistence since the religion’s beginnings more than 1,300 years ago.

Mr. Allam reviewed the carious problems currently existing within the Palestinian Authority, including various separate groups vying for a share in the running of this entity, with comparisons to the fighting among war lords as is presently happening in the African country of Somalia, as well as in Afghanistan. He noted that while the former Fatah or PLO ruled government was rife with miss-management and corruption, the militant fundamentalism of Hamas is in some ways more dangerous, as well as more inflexible. That Hamas won the last P.A. held election under a so-called ‘democratic format’ only happened because the Palestinians themselves saw that they had received nothing from the former government, led for so long by Yassir Arafat. He noted that it was a ‘big mistake’ for Hamas to even run in the election as the possibility of the organization being accepted by both Israel and other countries was very remote. Allam said that Hamas has not changed, and will not change its position in regards to recognizing Israel. The only thing that Hamas will agree on, Allam continued, is a Hudna or truce between it and what it considers as an infidel entity. This kind of truce is no different than that affected by numerous Islamic rulers and governments through the centuries with ‘non believers’ or infidels. This kind of feeling also underlines the organization’s relations with all non-Islamic countries, especially with the United States.

Mr. Allam also commented about the relationship between Hamas, Al Qaeda, and the Hezbollah, saying that all three groups shared the same terror ideology and were unified in denying Israel its right to exist. This correlation also included Iran and its radical Islamic government, so much in the news nowadays due to Iran’s current leadership. The radicalism shared by all these entities is something that the entire Western World must be concerned with, Allam noted.

The statements made by Iran’s president, Mahmoud Admadinajad, in respect to both Israel and to Western society, make that leader comparable to Adolf Hitler, and is thus a threat not only to the Jewish State, but to the entire Western World. “We must stop this mad regime” Allam said, even it might require the use of military force.

Returning to Israel and any future relationship with Hamas, Allam noted that Hama’s preconditions for a peace agreement with Israel were so inflexible that it would be a mistake if Israel is prepared to withdraw to the 1967 borders. “Israel must stick to its principles as it is the only way to guarantee its right to exist” Allam said.