Hamas won’t last, Shimon Peres said.
The Israeli president said in a television interview broadcast Tuesday that the Palestinian Islamist faction, despite its current hold on the Gaza Strip and threats to take over the West Bank as well, will ultimately be rejected by Palestinian moderates.
“In the long term there won’t be Hamas. There is no long-term for Hamas. They lack reason,” Peres told the BBC.
“The Palestinians are asking Hamas: What are you doing? What are your goals? What do you want to achieve?”
Peres, dubbed Israel’s eternal optimist for a lifetime of efforts to make peace with the Arab world, refused to accept that current realities on the Palestinian front are cause for long-term concern. But he allowed that achieving a comprehensive peace deal could take decades, rather than years.
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