[IMRA: Pop the champagne corks? Hamas leader Ismail Hanieh doesn't insist
that the Jews drown when they are thrown out of the country - they can board
boats.]

Hamas: We never wanted to throw Jews in sea
Hamas leader Ismail Hanieh says group never wanted to throw Jews in sea; 'we
don't hate Jews because they are Jews,' he says
Ynet 18 January 2006
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3202007,00.html

As the Palestinian elections near, the Islamic group Hamas seems to be
increasingly softening its rhetoric against Israel. A senior official of the
group sworn to Israel's destruction said Tuesday that Hamas is not hostile
to the Jews of Israel because of their ethnic and religious identity but
because they occupied historic Palestine.

"Hamas is not hostile to Jews because they are Jews. We are hostile to them
because they occupied our land and expelled our people," Ismail Hanieh said.

"We did not say we want to throw the Jews in the sea or feed them to sharks.
We just said that there is a land called occupied Palestine. It was
burglarized and it needs to be returned to the Palestinian people," Hanieh
added.

As Hamas prepares for a strong showing in the January 25 parliamentary
elections, opinion polls have forecast the party earning between 30 to 40
percent of votes, placing it only second to Mahmoud Abbas' ruling Fatah with
40 to 50 percent.

A recent Palestinian poll published in the Boston Globe shows Hamas winning
32 percent of votes.

Jordan's King says only alternative to Palestinian state is violence

Meanwhile, Jordan 's King Abdullah II said Tuesday that the only alternative
to creation of a Palestinian state was more chaos, violence and instability
in the Middle East.

The official Petra news agency said the king issued the dire forecast in a
meeting with a delegation from the New York-based Council on Foreign
Relations headed by Brent Scowcroft, who was National Security adviser to
former President George H.W. Bush.

The king said the next two years were particularly critical, and he urged
Israel to continue withdrawing from Palestinian territories.

Abdullah also urged all parties to the peace process to do their utmost to
improve the living conditions of the Palestinian people and to give Mahmoud
Abbas the necessary support for imposing law and order through the
establishment of effective civil and security institutions.

AP contributed to this report

(01.18.06, 01:06)