GAZA, 6 December 2004 — Hamas ruled out any truce with Israel yesterday and repeated its desire to destroy the Jewish state, rejecting what had appeared to be more conciliatory comments by one of the group’s leaders.
“There is no talk about a truce now at all,” Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a top Hamas leader, told reporters. “Our strategy is to liberate all Palestinian soil,” Zahar said, referring to the West Bank, Gaza and Israel.
Hassan Youssef, the top Hamas official in the West Bank, said on Friday the group could accept creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza and a long-term truce with Israel, signaling a possible new overture to end hostilities. Zahar said that although Hamas would boycott the presidential vote, it would consider taking part in the Palestinian legislative election in the spring.
