‘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...”