Azzam Tamimi at the Frontline Club

This evening I went to the Frontline Club to attend a discussion with Azzam Tamimi who has recently written a book about Hamas (“Hamas – Unwritten Chapters”). Tamimi has recently appeared on BBC’s Hard Talk and had made quite controversial comments about the legitimacy of suicide bombings. Given the fresh suicide bombings in Eilat just a few days ago, the discussion with Tamimi should prove quite topical.

Gabrielle Riffkind who interviewed Tamimi praised his book as a well-balanced book which if read by EU and US officials might change the official policy towards Hamas. Tamimi struck a conciliatory tone at first, mainly discussing the historical roots of Hamas and explaining the concept of the “hudnah”, i.e. a truce with Israel on three pre-conditions: Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders, the release of all Palestinian prisoners and the removal of all illegal settlements.

He also put the controversial Hamas Charter in context, which he claims serves more as a reference point for opponents of Hamas than a document that Hamas lives by. He also mentioned that it is in the process of being re-written.

Tamimi, however, failed to distance himself from suicide bombings and portrayed them as a legitimate Palestinian response to Israel’s asymmetrical violence inflicted on Palestinians. He saw no difference between an attack by Israeli military planes on Palestinian civil persons and the bombing of civilians in an Israeli bakery by a Palestinian suicide bomber. He also made quite clear that Hamas would never recognize Israel’s right to exist.

I will be reading his book….