Hamas, Iran rekindling hatred of Jews: US official

At a national commemoration at the US Capitol, Zoellick said the victory by Hamas in January's Palestinian elections hearkened back to Israel's founding in 1947 when its neighbors refused to recognize its right to exist.

"In its response to the recent terrorist Passover bombing in Israel, Hamas continued to justify terrorism and feed hatred," the number two US diplomat said in prepared remarks.

"Instead of facing up to the challenges of creating a democratic Palestinian state, Hamas has retreated to blaming the Palestinians' problems on the Jews."

Zoellick also lashed out at "equally troubling" statements by Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling for Israel to be wiped off the face of the map.

The US official did not equate the actions of Hamas or Iran with the systematic murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler before and during World War II.

But he did say the Nazis showed that "when national anxieties mix with widespread prejudice, the result can be a visceral hatred masquerading as reason that blames one group for the failure of an entire society."

"In Iran and with Hamas, we are seeing scenes from the rise of political Islam. Theirs is a violent strain of radicalism that seeks to pervert a religion into an ideology of hatred and racism."

Zoellick also called for stepped-up efforts to resolve the conflict in Sudan's western region of Darfur, where three years of fighting between rebels and government-backed militias have left up to 300,000 people dead.

With thousands of people expected to rally in Washington this weekend to demand an end to the Darfur carnage, Zoellick urged renewed efforts to distribute relief supplies, advance peace talks and bolster security.

Khartoum has been blocking US efforts to expand a 7,000-strong African Union peacekeeping contingent in Darfur into a larger UN force with greater NATO support.

"There is resistance to overcome," said Zoellick, whose government has branded the bloodshed in Darfur as genocide. "But it must be done. There is no time to waste."

Source

About headlines and content that has changed after it was added to this site - see disclaimer here

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.