Palestinian militant group Hamas will not recognise Israel, its political leader Khaled Meshaal has insisted. He was responding to comments by former US President Jimmy Carter, following their talks in Syria at the weekend. Mr Meshaal said Hamas agreed to a Palestinian state on the land in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza that Israel captured in the 1967 war. Mr Carter had said Hamas was prepared to accept the right of Israel to "live as a neighbour next door in peace".
Speaking in Syria, where he lives in exile, Khaled Meshaal said the Palestinian state must have "Jerusalem as its capital, with genuine sovereignty, without settlements". He added that this did not mean recognising Israel, but he said: "We have offered a truce if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders, a truce of 10 years as an alternative to recognition."
The United States said Mr Meshaal's comments did not amount to a change of position by Hamas. In any case, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, "actions speak louder than words".
Many Israelis and their allies do not believe Hamas' offer of a truce, says the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen. They cite the Hamas charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel and the creation of an Islamic state in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
| This is just the sort of dishonesty, intellectual or otherwise, we've come to expect from the Worst President Ever. By "misunderstanding" Hamas' position, which has remained constant for lo, these many years, Mr Peanut hoped to achieve some sort of "breakthrough," with the details, to include that little "misunderstanding," to be negotiated later. |