When Hamas was elected over three years ago, I made the prediction that some day, a leader of the terrorist group would follow in the footsteps of Yassir Arafat, and win a Nobel Peace Prize for tricking the west into actually thinking he wants peace. Now, after a five hours interviewing terrorist leader Khaled Meshal of Hamas, the New York Times reports that he, “reached out in a limited way to the Obama administration and others in the West, saying the movement was seeking a state only in the areas Israel won in 1967.”

This is nothing new. Hamas has long stated that it would offer a truce in exchange for establishing a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 borders, but it sees that as an interim step toward the ultimate goal of destroying Israel.

Back in November, I spoke with Maen Areikat in East Jerusalem — the deputy head of the negotiations department for the Palestinian Authority. He explained, “Hamas is offering a Hudna, a truce. A longterm truce, but then maybe in 10 or 15 years they’ll say it no longer applies.” He told me that given that Hamas is part of the Islamic Brotherhood, the group could never truly recognize Israel.

If you read further down into the Times story, a similar picture begins to emerge:

“We are with a state on the 1967 borders, based on a long-term truce. This includes East Jerusalem, the dismantling of settlements and the right of return of the Palestinian refugees.” Asked what “long-term” meant, he said 10 years.

So, Hamas wants gullible westerners to think that they’re ready to compromise on statehood, when in reality they would only support such a move as a way of buying time, arming themselves, and building a base from which they can launch an all out assault on Israel. The question is, will Obama prove as gullible with Hamas as Clinton was with Arafat?