So much for renouncing terror and moderating its Jihadic stance. While Mahmood Abbas insists the Hamas-Fatah unity agreement involves a Hamas readiness to renounce terrorism, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh made clear  that he has no such plans.

At a rally on the 24th anniversary of the founding of Hamas, Haniyeh declared the following (courtesy of Palestinian Media Watch):

"We say today, explicitly, so it cannot be explained otherwise, that the armed resistance and the armed struggle are the path and the strategic choice for liberating the Palestinian land, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river, and for the expulsion of the invaders and usurpers [Israel] from the blessed land of Palestine. The Hamas movement will lead Intifada after Intifada until we liberate Palestine – all of Palestine, Allah willing. Allah Akbar and praise Allah. We say with transparency and in a clear manner, that Palestinian reconciliation – and all sides must know this – cannot come at the expense of [our] principles, at the expense of the resistance. These principles are absolute and cannot be disputed: Palestine – all of Palestine – is from the sea to the river. We won’t relinquish one inch of the land of Palestine. The involvement of Hamas at any stage with the interim objective of liberation of [only[ Gaza, the West Bank, or Jerusalem, does not replace its strategic view concerning Palestine and the land of Palestine."

The keyword is not “moderation”, but “interim objective”.