http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21067257-38201,00.html
Hamas will 'never recognise Israel' By Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza January 16, 2007 10:57am Article from: Reuters THE Islamist militant group Hamas would never recognise Israel, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said today. Mr Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, said in an interview from Gaza with Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah's al-Manar television: "Hamas will never recognise the legitimacy of the occupation (Israel)." "Hamas will never show flexibility over the issue of recognising the legitimacy of the occupation," he said. Hamas took control of the Palestinian government last March after winning parliamentary elections a year ago. The US and its allies imposed sanctions on the Hamas-led government to pressure it to recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim deals. The group has refused to abide by these demands. Mr Haniyeh said there had been "an encouraging start" to efforts aimed at forming a Palestinian national unity government with rival movement Fatah. "I am full of hope that these efforts could succeed and I hope that the national unity government could see the light in the nearest time possible if the intentions were honest," he said. At least 30 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah called for new elections last month, raising the stakes in his power struggle with Hamas. Mr Haniyeh renewed his rejection of Abbas's election call. He said Hamas would never agree to conditions set by Western powers, which also included accepting previous interim peace accords signed in the 1990s by the Palestine Liberation Organisation with Israel. Mr Abbas has called for peace talks with Israel. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2001 and have remained deadlocked further since Hamas took power. Last week, the movement's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal told Reuters in Damascus where he is based that Hamas does "not talk about recognising Israel or accepting it as a reality". Mr Haniyeh said in the al-Manar interview there was "talk that progress has been achieved" on bids to free an Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza by militants in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. "They used to refuse talking about numbers and now they (Israel) have agreed," he said. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he was willing to free Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel for Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was captured last June in a cross-border raid by gunmen from Hamas and other factions. Mr Haniyeh confirmed for the first time that factions had listed jailed Fatah leader Marwan al-Barghouthi among those they wanted freed. Barghouthi was jailed by an Israeli court for five life terms for ordering attacks on Israelis - as part of a Palestinian uprising which erupted in 2000 - charges he denied. Israel has in the past refused to free prisoners with "blood on their hands". Palestinian armed factions have demanded Israel release more than 1,000 prisoners for Shalit. Israel holds some 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in its jails. +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
