The exiled leader of Hamas said Friday they have rejected a European offer for an indirect meeting with Israelis to discuss a possible truce, adding that the Palestinian people have no choice other than "resistance." Khaled Mashaal, head of the political bureau of the Islamic Hamas movement, is handed "the Palestine Oath" by Palestinians living in Damascus, in which they promise him to cling fast to their right of return to Palestine and not to surrender their rights. The paper was submitted Friday.
Photo: AP
Speaking at a rally in Damascus marking Hamas's 20th anniversary, Khaled Mashaal also called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to hold unconditional talks with Hamas.
Mashaal also said that "some Europeans have offered us to meet indirectly with Israelis to discuss a truce and we told them no and one thousands nos." He did not say what European country made the offer.
On Monday, Abbas took a conciliatory tone toward his Hamas rivals in a major policy speech, calling for a "new page" in relations between the bitter enemies. Fatah and Hamas have been at odds since Hamas won parliamentary elections in January 2006. Those differences boiled over into open warfare that peaked with Hamas' driving Fatah out of Gaza in June.