The Associated Press should really be ashamed of themselves for letting their news service be hijacked by propagandists for terror gangs, but I know they aren’t.

Today’s most ridiculous example comes from the word processor of Sarah El Deeb: Israel rejects Palestinian peace offer.

I’d be willing to bet that not one person in the editorial chain at AP truly believes that Palestinians made a “peace offer.”

But yesterday’s example is even worse, a twisted “local color” piece about the women of Hamas, who’ve come a long way, baby. By Associated Press writer Diaa Hadid: Hamas women seek bigger political role.

Pure death cult propaganda, describing genocidal murderers and their evil activities as if they were the most normal people in the world.

You know, just committed activists. Sisters, doing it for themselves.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A grandmother-turned-suicide bomber, a small army of women marching into a battlefield, thousands of veiled volunteers hitting the streets in an election campaign — the Islamic militant group Hamas is increasingly mobilizing its network of female activists.

Yet the Hamas women, known as the Sisterhood, say such high-profile missions have not changed how the group is run: the men make decisions, the women have a supporting role, at best.

But even in the rigidly conservative movement, whose manifesto defines women as “manufacturers of men,” some female activists are demanding a say in politics and in Hamas’ military wing, which has carried out scores of deadly attacks against Israelis in recent years.

A suicide bombing on Thursday by a 64-year-old grandmother who blew herself up near Israeli soldiers in Gaza was an exception, not the rule, said Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ military wing. He suggested she was chosen because it would have been more difficult for a man to approach the target.

Still women have started to demand a bigger role in Hamas, which leads the Palestinian government. A Hamas legislator said she resented attempts by male colleagues to keep her on the back-benches. A Gaza housewife who has smuggled food and weapons to fugitives said she wants more assignments. Activists debate how to best influence the all-male Hamas leadership based in Syria.

UPDATE at 11/25/06 10:54:12 am:

AP writer Diaa Hadid is Australian, and in an article from May 2002 she explains that she has such personal animosity for Israelis that she can’t even look at them: My Israel, my Palestine. (Hat tip: Right Side.)

The intensity of Hadid’s involvement over the last nine months has had a strong impact on her views. When she first arrived in the Middle East, Hadid expressed a desire to make more Israeli friends. Now she has trouble separating the personal from the political.

“I can’t look at Israelis anymore. I can’t separate your average Israeli citizen from the occupation, I don’t want to be friends with them, I don’t want to talk to them,” says Hadid.

This, of course, means she’s perfectly qualified to write stories about Israel for the Associated Press.