Leader says Hamas ready to end Palestinian-Israeli conflict

HAMAS POLITBURO chief Khaled Meshaal said yesterday the movement was ready to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution.

“I promise the American administration and the international community that we will be a part of the solution, period,” he said during a five-hour interview with the New York Times, his first with US media in a year. The Damascus-based leader, recently re-elected to a four-year term, said Hamas is prepared to accept a Palestinian state in the territory occupied by Israel in 1967.

This would include East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, 22 per cent of geographic Palestine.

He called for the dismantling of Israeli settlements and the return of Palestinian refugees and said Hamas was ready for a 10-year ceasefire with Israel. Hamas has halted rocket fire from Gaza into Israel. Only six rockets have been fired since the Gaza war ceasefire was declared on January 18th.

However, Mr Meshaal ruled out formal, de jure recognition of Israel, a demand put forward by the international community. He argued that Fatah had committed a major mistake when it recognised Israel in 1993.

“Did that recognition lead to an end of the occupation?” he asked. Hamas officials and Palestinian analysts argue that Hamas’ acceptance of a state based on the 1967 borders constitutes de facto recognition of Israel.

Addressing Arab leaders, he said: “There is only one enemy in the region, and that is Israel.” These words warned Arab rulers not to supplant Israel with Iran, a country Israel regards as its chief enemy.

He urged the international community to regard as out of date the Hamas charter which calls for the replacement of Israel with a Palestinian Islamic state. He also called for the world to listen to what Hamas has to say rather than what others say about the movement. “To understand Hamas is to listen to its vision directly,” he said.

Since the US has opened dialogues with Iran and Syria, he implied that the Obama administration should speak to Hamas. He said that President Barack Obama’s language was “positive” but was critical of the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.

Mr Mishaal said nothing new. In 2000, Shaikh Ahmad Yassin, the founding father and spiritual leader of Hamas, said: “If Israel withdraws completely from the West Bank and Gaza and it removes all of its settlements, I will make a truce with it.”

A few months before his assassination by Israel in 2004, he announced that Hamas would cease fighting after a Palestinian state was created within the 1967 borders and offered a 30-year truce. He rejected de jure recognition of Israel. His line has been repeated by senior Hamas officials since then.