When I read in Haaretz that Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin publicly denounced the idea of a Palestinian state with sovereignty, existing beside Israel, I wasn’t the least bit surprised.

According to Haaretz, in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, Yassin was quoted complaining about the idea of dividing Israeli land among Israelis and Palestinians, arguing that the Palestinian people have the rights to the land in its entirety.

“[The division] would not work,” he told Der Spiegel, according to Haaretz. “The Israelis claim 80 percent of the territory and will only let us have 20 percent.”

“It would only be an interim solution,” Haaretz reported him as saying.

So I got to thinking about exactly what the implications of this proclamation are, and what I have reasoned is quite disturbing for both peace activists and right-wing Zionists.

Yassin, as a leader of one of the largest terrorist organizations in the world, is saying that there is no point in Israel acquiescing to the demands of the international community and surrendering even the well-accepted 20 percent of the land gained since 1967. In addition, Yassin has implicitly nullified any incentive Israel may have to cooperate in stopping attacks on the terrorist organization or its allies against Israel.

Yassin has implied that there will be no peace until Israel does not exist, meaning that nothing Israel does to even attempt a controversial compromise of land distributions will prove effective against his militant organization’s targeting of innocent civilians in violent, bloody acts.

Yassin has, I would argue, accidentally declared himself the enemy of both sides of the issue. He has isolated himself as a third faction, a peace prophylactic oblivious to individual and diverse visions of conflict resolution in the region.

It is amazing how forcefully Yassin has launched the image of Hamas back into reality. It is no longer possible to mistake his organization as a charitable organization of peace and humanitarian concern, as the claim has often been made. There are no longer any illusions, thanks to his recent admission.

I must say though that it is disappointing to see this, because it really makes me lose hope. But this is so typical of terrorists, and Yassin is a striking exemplar of how things always work with the extremists.

It makes me lose hope because it means that every concession that Israel has put on the peace table is not sufficient to secure peace. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense. When I think back on the history in the region over the past decade, I understand why this is the outcome we have today.

I recall the classic handshake between Yassir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin on the Whitehouse lawn with a smiling President Bill Clinton in the background. I recall the hope I had on that day, even as a child. In my fifth-grade mind, I thought, at the time, that this would be it. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t because no concession was enough for the terrorists.

Almost a decade later, the Hudna, or cease-fire was arranged between the Israelis, the Palestinian Authority and major terrorist groups working against Israel. Again I gained hope, and again it was shot down as Hamas made clear that it was committed to terrorist attacks during the Hudna.

Hamas has never agreed to stop any violence. Yassin has reaffirmed what recent history tells us about the sides involved in the conflict. There is no negotiating with terrorists.

Yassin, Hamas and the bottomless pit of terrorist groups control the end result. There is no point in Israel giving up any land because there is no reason – and no desire – for the terrorists to stop.

The terrorists are extremists, and they’re the ones who have the final say on how much terror there will be. People say that all these groups want is the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem for the Palestinian people, and that there will be peace when this can be successfully negotiated. However, it is apparent that these claims are blatantly incorrect.

There will be no peace with the terrorists. They will continue to fight at all costs against the Israelis, working against peace activists with a vision for a two-state solution, and working even harder against those who strive for a state of two coexisting populations.

A peace activist affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement once told me that if Israel can move its borders back to the pre-1967 boundaries, “the terrorists will melt away like ice cream.” It is now clearer than ever that this has never been the case, and that with men like Yassin in control of such large political forces, it never will be.

Morris Singer is a Collegian columnist.