On a day when The New York Times reported that the US and Israel were in cahoots, intending to destabilize the newly elected Hamas-led Palestinian government by cutting off funding, Hamas chief in exile Khaled Mashaal attacked the policies of Western governments and Israel on Tuesday saying Hamas would never recognize Israel, and calling for the “liberation of Jerusalem.” “Our goal is to free Jerusalem and to purify Al-Aksa Mosque,” said the Damascus-based leader, according to Hamas’s Web site. “Islam is strong,” he reportedly said in a speech to a crowd in Sudan’s capital Khartoum, “because its strength is from God, and it will continue to go forward despite those who oppose it. Don’t fear, we will not recognize Israel.” With the possibility of foreign funding being cut off, Mashaal began a tour of Muslim countries last week in order to drum up financial support. But he told his audience that “we are a nation which is ready to starve and die.” His words echoed the goal of a plan described by the Times, which said that Israeli and US officials would try to “starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections to the point where, some […]