Hamas Accepts State Within 1967 Borders: Meshaal
Mohammed Mar’i, Arab News

RAMALLAH, 3 April 2008 — Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said that his movement supports the united Palestinian position that calls for the establishment of a fully sovereign state within the 1967 borders, including Jerusalem, and refugees’ right to return.

In an interview published yesterday in Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam, Meshaal referred to the 2006 prisoners’ document as proof of this. “There is a Palestinian document and in it all organizations say they agree to a state in the 1967 borders.”

The prisoners’ document, also known as the National Reconciliation Document, was drafted by members of different Palestinian factions held in an Israeli prison, including Fatah and Hamas. It calls for the “establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital on all territories occupied in 1967.”

The Damascus-based leader said the Palestinian position had received a vote of consensus during the national accords of 2006 and that this position is considered acceptable to the Arab world. He called on ordinary Israelis to pressure on their government to stop aggression against the Palestinians in light of this document.

When asked about claims by Israel and the United States that Hamas is seeking to destroy Israel, Meshaal said his movement has committed itself to a political plan, which it follows, and called on America, Europe and other international entities to conduct themselves in accordance with this political truth, and to judge Hamas based on its political plan, not on what people imagine.

The Hamas leader also said there had been several Israeli attempts to contact him, but he had turned them down. He explained in the interview that Hamas is interested in a complete ceasefire in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but that Israel is willing to agree to such a deal only in the Gaza Strip. He said secret contacts are under way with the Europeans and that the Americans are applying pressure to keep these contacts from broadening.

Regarding the prisoner exchange deal for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Meshaal said that it is not linked to the ceasefire and that negotiations are not progressing at this point. He said the Egyptians are still mediating and that some Europeans are contributing — something that the Egyptians know about.

Meshaal said Israel continues to refuse to release prisoners who have been sentenced to life terms, even though it changed its criteria for releasing prisoners with “blood on their hands,” an Israeli term used for those who kill Israelis.

Two months ago, Meshaal said an agreement was reached with Egypt for the initial release of some 350 prisoners in exchange for the transfer of Shalit to the Egyptians and that 100 more prisoners would be released when Shalit reaches Israel. During the second stage of the deal, another 550 prisoners would be released.

Meshaal said he was surprised that Israel rejected most of the names on the Hamas list of prisoners, adding that jailed Fatah leader Marwan Al-Barghouthi was on this list.

Meshaal was also asked about Israel’s claims that he is no longer in charge of Hamas and that he lost control to Ahmed Al-Jaabari, head of the group’s military wing, Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades. He responded by saying Israel’s views are like the stock market: Sometimes Khaled Meshaal is responsible for Hamas and sometimes he has lost control. “I laugh, since they do not know Hamas or its decision-making processes,” he said.

In Cairo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would withhold any assessment of the peace process with Israel until the two sides start putting a draft accord on paper. “I can’t speak of progress as long as we have not started to edit a draft. When we start drafting we will feel we have started to make progress,” he told reporters yesterday after meeting Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak.

So far, Abbas said, the two sides aiming for a peace deal by the end of 2008 as targeted by Washington have only had “exchanges of ideas, a dialogue ... in depth.” The Palestinian leader stressed that the contacts since the peace process was revived at a US-hosted conference in November had homed in on core issues and final-status points of dispute.

“We are now in a process of negotiations in which we are discussing key issues. We are tackling questions linked to the final status,” Abbas said.

“These are serious discussions ... between all the parties concerned — Palestinians, Israel and also Americans — on the fact we must use 2008 to seal an accord with Israel on the final status” of the Palestinian territories.

But “for now, I cannot say whether we will succeed by the end of 2008,” in time for the end of US President George W. Bush’s term in office.

— Additional input from AFP

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