Hamastan (2003)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

WOTY 2006? Should be in the running at least -- more than 600 hits on
Google News Search over the past few weeks. Here are some earlier
cites:

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Midstream, Feb./Mar. 2003
"Anatomy of an Illusion: The Israeli-Palestinian Two-State Solution"
by Eric L. Rozenman
Yet, an America that assures one ally, Turkey, that it will not permit
an independent Kurdistan to arise from the ruins of a post-Saddam Iraq
and that sent troops half-way around the world to root out
Afghanistan's Taliban and their Al Qaeda guests, would endanger a
second ally, Israel, with creation of an Arafatia or Hamastan.
<http://www.midstreamthf.com/200302/feature.html>
(Posted Mar. 1, 2003: <http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=15995>)
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Jerusalem Post, June 11, 2004, p. 5 (Nexis)
The establishment of a Hamas controlled state on its own border - call
it Hamastan - with all the encouragement it would give to MoslemMuslim
extremists in Egypt, is not something Mubarak wants to see.
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Jerusalem Post, Sep. 1, 2004, p. 5 (Nexis)
[interview with EU representative Marc Otte]
You don't want Hamastan at your door, we don't want instability, Egypt
doesn't want the Muslim Brotherhood.
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Institute for Contemporary Affairs, Jerusalem Issue Brief, Nov. 8, 2004
Would a Gaza "Hamas-stan" become another al-Qaeda sanctuary in the future?
<http://www.jcpa.org/brief/brief004-7.htm>
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Newsweek, Sep. 5, 2005
[interview with Hamas cofounder Mahmoud Zahar]
PERAINO: Some Israeli officials warn that after the withdrawal, Gaza
will become "Hamastan."
ZAHAR: It should be Hamastan. Why not? We are not corrupt. We are
serving the poorer classes. We are defending our land. It should be
Hamastan!
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9108636/site/newsweek>
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--Ben Zimmer

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org