Hamas to give up arms if Israel leaves West Bank |
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Feb 14, 2006 at 12:00 AM |
by Michael Jansen
[Deccan Herald, February 14, 2006] “The head of Hamas’ politburo Khaled Mishaal said in an interview published in a Russian journal that the movement would halt its armed struggle if Israel were to withdraw from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, occupied in 1967.
‘If Israel recognises our rights and pledges to withdraw from all occupied lands, Hamas and the Palestinian people will decide to halt our armed resistance,’ he stated. Mishaal, a hardliner who lives in exile in Damascus, has clearly adopted the moderate line taken by the founder and spiritual mentor of the movement, Shaikh Ahmad Yassin, and the senior figure in Gaza, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, both of whom were assassinated by Israel in 2004.
In previous statements, Mishaal had said that Hamas could agree to a ‘long-term truce’ with Israel if it pulled back to the border of June 4th, 1967...”
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