THE ILLUSIONISTS?

The trick is to convince the world that Hamas is not an intransigent organisation that refuses to recognise Israel and is therefore worthy of gaining the world's respect.

Here's how it's done:

In today's Melbourne Age there's a report from Conal Urquhart taken from The Guardian and Reuters headed "New line on Israel from Hamas chief".

It starts this way:

"HAMAS accepts the existence of the state of Israel but will not officially recognise it until the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, according to the exiled Hamas leader in Damascus, Khaled Meshaal.

"In an interview, Mr. Meshaal softened his anti-Israel rhetoric, suggesting that Hamas does not seek the destruction of Israel as written in its charter. He said that Israel is a 'reality' and 'there will remain a state called Israel — this is a matter of fact". He added: 'The problem is not that there is an entity called Israel. The problem is that the Palestinian state is non-existent'."

Was this a breakthrough in Hamas thinking or was it part of a Hamas PR campaign aimed at softening the international funding embargo that will be lifted only when the Hamas-led Palestinian government renounces violence and recognises Israel and all previous agreements made between the Jewish State and the Palestine Authority?

Well, it didn't take long for Hamas to reveal its true position. A Hamas government spokesperson Ghazi Hamad told Ha'aretz that what Meshaal really meant was, "Israel exists - and that's a fact" but "there was no change in our stance that Hamas does not recognize Israel."

Salah Bardawil, head of Hamas's parliamentary faction, said he checked Meshaal and it seems that his words were twisted and distorted.

"He didn't speak about any recognition of Israel, only a cease-fire with Israel," Bardawil said.

As for that controversial part of Hamas Charter 7 that calls for the killing of Jews ... well, nobody from Hamas or its apologists around the world wants to go there at all.

The fact remains that Hamas is still bent on making Israel disappear and thankfully, no amount of fancy work with smoke, mirrors or the help of the Guardian, Reuters and the Melbourne Age for that matter will help it achieve this aim.

POSTSCRIPT: THE MAHMOUD ABBAS ILLUSION

When you compare Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with the folks at Hamas, lately he has come across as a veritable peacenik.

The Americans and the Europeans have been running around telling us about his peaceful intentions and only recently Abbas scored lots of weapons to arm his boys and help them keep the peace among the warring factions in Gaza and the West Bank.

Now the peaceloving Abbas is calling on Palestinians to refrain from internal fighting and to direct their guns only against Israeli 'occupation' (read here).

This is a double Palestinian illusion. The first is the one that deals with Abbas the peacenik and the second is about the 'occupation'.

In a former life Abbas was the Palestinian Prime Minister who signed on to the Road Map to Peace without any reservations in June 2003. A month or so later he was ready to repudiate that agreement by saying he wasn't in a strong enough position to disarm terrorist groups.

These days the trick is hard to perform when you advocate that your armed groups should use their arms against Israelis.

Hamas and Fatah may have been getting some guidance recently from Australian Grand Mufti Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali. The Sheik been visiting the Egyptians and is advising them of the magical ways in which he promotes the cause of peace and co-existence in Australia. Some people believe him as much as they do Meshaal, Abbas and co.