Hamas leader vows armed struggle against Israel

MIDDLE EAST: The supremo of Palestinian radical group Hamas vowed to continue armed struggle against Israel and declared that the Palestinian Authority had accomplished nothing by recognising the Jewish state.

"The demand that Hamas and the resistance movements lay down their weapons and become political parties is unrealistic and has nothing to do with the Palestinian reality on the ground," said Meshaal in an interview broadcast on Dubai-based Arab news channel Al-Arabiya after the end of his landmark visit to Moscow.

"This is why we are determined to hold on to our choices which are resisting and defending our people with the modest arms that we have while opting for peaceful politics to reorganise the internal Palestinian order."

Meshaal made clear his group, which has carried out dozens of attacks against Israel, had no plans to compromise its militancy in the face of diplomatic pressure.

"We told Russian officials and we tell the whole world now, the solution is not in recognising Israel, it is in ending the occupation," said the Damascus-based Meshaal.

"How can we the victims recognise the jailer, the killer and the occupier and did those that recognised Israel in the past accomplish anything? Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority recognised it and the result was that nothing changed."

Later in Damascus, Meshaal sounded a more flexible tone concerning Israel.

"We want to treat this (new) situation with a new spirit," he said, addressing a conference of Arab political parties.

"We want to prevent the spilling of blood.

"If Israel declares war on us, we are ready for war with this country. If they want peace, they must leave the occupied Palestinian territories.".----

Meanwhile Russia's Foreign Minster Sergei Laro said that .Hamas has not ruled out holding peace negotiations with Israel on the basis of the international roadmap for Middle East peace.

"Hamas is considering adopting a position in support of the roadmap," Lavrov told reporters after meeting with Canada's Foreign Minister Peter MacKay to discuss trade, security and environmental issues.

Lavrov said that following a recent visit by Hamas leaders to Moscow "Hamas is concerned that Israel made quite a number of reservations to the roadmap which basically prejudge the final stages issues.

"But Hamas did not rule out the resumption of the negotiations on the basis of the roadmap as the quartet drafted," he said.

Meanwhile.The newly dominant Hamas faction flexed its muscles in the first working session of the incoming Palestinian parliament by repealing a series of measures passed by the outgoing MPs.

Fatah, the faction which had dominated the legislative council until it was thrashed by the radical Islamists on January 25, boycotted the vote having earlier staged a walkout from the chamber.

The absence of the Fatah MPs meant that while 64 MPs voted to repeal the measures, there were no votes against and only six abstentions.

On February 13, the outgoing parliament appointed Fatah men to key administrative posts and backed the creation of a constitutional court, whose members would be named by Palestinian Authority president and Fatah member Mahmud Abbas.

Deputies from Hamas believe that because the session was held after the ballot in which Fatah was roundly defeated, its decisions were invalid.

Upon taking up his post last month, new Hamas speaker Aziz Dweik immediately froze those decisions and said they would be reviewed by the new house.

Fatah's walkout had been designed to buy time but the overwhelming vote was a rude reminder of the faction's reduced status in the new-look chamber.

In a statement issued after the vote, the Fatah MPs denounced what they called "the violations of the law which have been committed during this session and the manner in which proceedings have been handled" by Dweik.

"This is undermining any base for dialogue and partnership," they added. -

Gaza City, Ottawa, Tuesday, AFP