Region | Palestinian Territories
Hamas denies remarks about recognising Israel
Hamas's prime minister-designate Esmail Haniya on Sunday denied he had suggested the Palestinian Islamist group might one day recognise Israel.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:00 February 27, 2006
Gaza: Hamas's prime minister-designate Esmail Haniya on Sunday denied he had suggested the Palestinian Islamist group might one day recognise Israel.
Haniya said there was only a possibility of achieving a long-term truce.
Hamas chose Haniya, a 43-year-old Gazan viewed by many Palestinians as a pragmatist, as the new prime minister after its election victory on January 25. The militant Islamist group hopes to form a Palestinian government within two weeks.
Haniya gave an interview in Newsweek and the Washington Post from which he quickly backtracked.
The Washington Post newspaper, on its Web site, quoted Haniya as saying in an interview: "If Israel declares that it will give the Palestinian people a state and give them back all their rights, then we are ready to recognise them."
But Haniya told reporters in Gaza that he "did not tackle the issue of recognising (Israel) in my interview with the Washington Post".
Reiterating a long-standing position by Hamas, Haniya said the group would never recognise Israel but could agree to a long-term truce if Israel withdrew from lands captured in the 1967 war, freed prisoners and allowed the return of refugees.
"I said when the occupation withdraws from the land (occupied since the war of) 1967, including Jerusalem, releases prisoners and implements the right of return, then it is possible Hamas will agree to a long-term ceasefire.
"Then we can talk about peace in stages. This peace means ceasefire," he told reporters.
Hamas is caught between US-led demands to recognise Israel or face a cutoff of foreign aid to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, and sticking to its ideology of calling for Israel's destruction.
Israel had rejected Haniya's published remarks to the Washington Post as falling short of its demands that Hamas recognise Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and accept peace accords as a condition for any contacts with the group.
Israel has sought to isolate any Hamas-led government and decided to freeze transfers of tax revenues worth $50-$55 million per month to the Palestinian Authority.
The United States, while backing Israel's boycott, has pledged to continue providing humanitarian assistance to ease the plight of ordinary Palestinians.
Share this article
Related Articles
More from Palestinian Territories
More from Region
Popular in News
News Editor's choice
-
Al Qaida returns to Manhattan
Trial in US federal court would be just the theatre Khalid Shaikh Mohammad wants
-
Obama's Tibet test
The US president's snub of the Dalai Lama could embolden China
-
What to expect at the Dubai Airshow
We preview what types of aircraft to expect at the Dubai Airshow
