GAZA CITY, 27 February 2006 — Ismail Haniyeh, the next prime minister of Palestine, yesterday set terms for a truce with Israel. He said Hamas had no intention of seeking a peace agreement with Israel, distancing himself from a published interview in which he was quoted as saying the Palestinian group was ready for a deal with the Jewish state.
Haniyeh said Hamas was interested in a long-term truce, but did not seek peace with Israel. “I did not say anything about recognizing Israel,” Haniyeh said.
Hamas is set to form a new Palestinian Cabinet in the coming weeks after victory in January parliamentary elections. It so far has rejected international calls to recognize Israel, despite Western threats to cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians.
Haniyeh was quoted by The Washington Post on Saturday as saying Hamas would establish “peace in stages” if Israel would withdraw to its 1967 boundaries — before it captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. It was the first time Hamas has been quoted as seeking peace with Israel.
Addressing reporters here yesterday, Haniyeh said his comments had been misunderstood. He said he was not referring to a peace agreement, only a “political truce.”
He laid down a series of demands that Israel has ruled out, including a full withdrawal from all lands captured in 1967, the release of Palestinian prisoners and the return of several million Palestinian refugees and their descendants to Israel. “Then Hamas can grant a long-term truce,” Haniyeh said.
Israel has repeatedly said it has no intention of returning to its prewar borders. It has refused to release some 8,000 Palestinian prisoners it holds and ruled out a large-scale return of refugees, saying it would destroy the country’s Jewish character.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch in a meeting about the Palestinian aid crisis that Haniyeh’s published remarks were “sweet talk” and “show their intentions are not real.” Meir Sheetrit, another Cabinet minister, had earlier said Haniyeh’s quoted comments were a possible indication that “they (Hamas) may be starting to speak another language.”
Hamas has largely abided by a cease-fire forged a year ago. Hamas officials have said in the past the group would offer Israel a 10- to 15-year truce in return for a withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip before pursuing its long-term goals.
