Islamic state in Palestine
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The slogan "an Islamic state in Palestine" serves as a rallying cry for the Palestinian Islamist terrorist group Hamas. It states their goal to replace Israel with an Islamic state which incorporates the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Israel, and also conveys their rationale:
- that there ought to be at least one Islamic state in Palestine, even if they have to establish it by force
- that there is no Islamic state in Palestine
The first statement is markedly different from that envisioned by the Partition of Palestine. Rather the idea behind the British Mandate of Palestine was to provide a homeland for the Jews without compromising the Arab interests in the area.
The second statement is hotly debated. Jordan is sometimes argued in the West to lie within the region historically called "Palestine," it is within the area originally slated to become the British Mandate of Palestine, and it is generally considered to be within the Islamic sphere. Nonetheless, Hamas does not consider it to be an "Islamic state in Palestine" by their definition.