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Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar (Archives)
Last update - 19:24 09/11/2008
Hamas: No room to implement long-term truce with Israel
By DPA
Tags: cease-fire, ismail haniyeh 

Hamas will not implement a long-term truce with Israel for the time being, a senior official of the Islamist organization said Sunday.

The offer "was not canceled," Mahmoud al-Zahar said, but added that there was "no room to implement it for the time being" since "there is no one to talk about this proposal with on the other [Israeli] side."

He said a long-term truce was "a project that can be developed when there are intentions."
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The Hamas long-term truce offer was first made by the organization's late spiritual advisor, Ahmed Yassin, who suggested a 20-year-long ceasefire, without recognizing Israel's right to exist, in return for an Israeli withdrawal from lands captured in the 1967 Six-Day war.

Zahar's remarks were made a day after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said his government could accept a Palestinian state only in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, the territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war.

Haniyeh said on Saturday his government was willing to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.

The Hamas leader spoke at a meeting with 11 European parliamentarians who sailed from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip to protest Israel's naval blockade of the territory. Haniyeh told his guests Israel rejected his initiative.

Clare Short, who served in the cabinet of former British prime minister Tony Blair, asked Haniyeh to repeat his offer.

He said the Hamas government had agreed to accept a Palestinian state that followed the 1967 borders and to offer Israel a long-term hudna, or truce, if Israel recognized the Palestinians' national rights.

In response to a question about the international community's impression that there are two Palestinian states, Haniyeh said: "We don't have a state, neither in Gaza nor in the West Bank. Gaza is under siege and the West Bank is occupied. What we have in the Gaza Strip is not a state, but rather a regime of an elected government. A Palestinian state will not be created at this time except in the territories of 1967."

The parliamentary delegation was led by Baron Nazir Ahmed, who was born in Pakistan and is a member of the British House of Lords. Ahmed, Britain's second Muslim peer and the only one born Muslim, related how, 10 years ago, he was sworn into the House of Lords using a Koran. "And now you represent us," Haniyeh told him on Saturday.

Ahmed asked Haniyeh about Hamas' relations with Iran and requested his response to the claims of "our Zionist friends" that Hamas, like Iran, seeks to destroy the State of Israel and throw the Jews into the sea.

"Our ties with Iran are like those with other Muslim states. Does a besieged people that is waiting breathlessly for a ship to come from the sea want to throw the Jews into the ocean? Our conflict is not with the Jews, our problem is with the occupation," Haniyeh said.

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      1.   No Offer Of Peace From Hamas, Just Lip Service 18:33  |  DOC HOLLIDAY 09/11/08
      2.   Simply put 18:40  |  Arie 09/11/08
      3.   Zahar is right 18:45  |  Hamas doesnt have 09/11/08
      4.   Hamas must be destroyed 18:58  |  Cato the Elder 09/11/08
      5.   Only a full and final settlement will work 19:06  |  MARK KLEIN, M.D. 09/11/08
      6.   good news 19:15  |  alfredo 09/11/08
      7.   In the morning they talk - and only talk! - of cease fire. But in 19:23  |  Jardenah 09/11/08
      8.   Good! Destroy Hamas and make peace with the 100,000 remaining 19:32  |  Murray of Montreal 09/11/08
      9.   Peace Plan 19:42  |  Jasper 09/11/08
      10.   we gee iseal is running w/o a gov. 19:48  |  and ministers do 09/11/08
      11.   How long will the ?truce? go on. 19:59  |  Mario Sala 09/11/08
      12.   Hamas is obtaining weapons directly from Iran. 20:01  |  Jean Van Daem 09/11/08
      13.   alfredo? which ones are those 20:03  |  confused 09/11/08
      14.   you dispora zio`s dont seem to get it 20:06  |  if hamas could be 09/11/08
      15.   Interpretation - no one to give us everything we want 20:11  |  Jon 09/11/08
      16.   HAMAS EMBOLDENED BY ENCOURAGEMENT..... 20:12  |  Ian 09/11/08
      17.   Jean Van Daem? hamas support and arms comes 20:31  |  from all over the 09/11/08
      18.   Capitulation The Only Way Out 20:41  |  crlman 09/11/08
      19.   Somewhere hidden in Hamas ranks - there are decent people 20:49  |  Jesse Quain 09/11/08
      20.   America Defeated 20:49  |  crlman 09/11/08
      21.   99.5% of the Middle East is not enough "Room" for Arabs 20:51  |  UsedToPostHere 09/11/08
      22.   UsedToPostHere you are not getting it 21:25  |  its the pain and 09/11/08
      23.   Hello, House of Lords....we.have an issue..! 21:27  |  Stephen. 09/11/08
      24.   The proper next move 21:30  |  Mark Lincoln 09/11/08
      25.   Dangerous Clowns..... 21:37  |  Dolly 09/11/08
      26.   Hamas`s translation of long term truce 21:40  |  Proud Israeli 09/11/08
      27.   Sounds like a great "deal" to me 21:50  |  Peter Williams 09/11/08
      28.   The headline is far more alarmist than the content 21:58  |  Mark Lincoln 09/11/08
      29.   You mean Israeli`s right Afredo? 22:07  |  BBSNews 09/11/08
      30.   Jasper, that`s ethnic cleansing... 22:14  |  BBSNews 09/11/08
      31.   More BS from BBS News 22:37  |  Murray of Montreal 09/11/08
      32.   Who cares? 22:39  |  Sidney 09/11/08
      33.   BBS NEWS AND ETHNIC CLEANSING 22:40  |  Proud Israeli 09/11/08
      34.   Proud Israeli? isn`t it true that the expulsion from 23:25  |  many arab countries 09/11/08
      35.   To Jasper re: Peace Plan (Part 1 - Citizenship & Refugees) 23:31  |  ZISD 09/11/08
      36.   To Jasper re Peace Plan (Part 2 - Rule of Law for WB/Gaza) 23:34  |  ZISD 09/11/08
      37.   To Jasper re Peace Plan (Part 3 - local governance & borders) 23:36  |  ZISD 09/11/08
      38.   This is Hamas` magnanimous offer. 23:42  |  Bling Bling 09/11/08
      39.   BBSnews 29 23:50  |  alfredo 09/11/08
      40.   confused 13 23:55  |  alfredo 09/11/08
      41.   19Jesse Quain 23:58  |  alfredo 09/11/08
      42.   wrong again alfredo! it was a premptive war (67) 00:01  |  the zio-entity 10/11/08
      43.   What did Ahmed Yassin actually say? 00:20  |  zaz 10/11/08
      44.   Liberals say destroy Hamas 00:39  |  Bronxite11 10/11/08
      45.   G! .Alfredo, where have you been? 00:51  |  A1 10/11/08
      46.   #42-- your wrong 00:52  |  David G 10/11/08
      47.   Does this mean we we get the west bank back after 20 years? 01:08  |  Dan 10/11/08
      48.   BBS News what about my Nakba 01:10  |  Bilbi 10/11/08
      49.   zaz? here is al qassams webite 01:10  |  go ask 10/11/08
      50.   gee thanks Bronxite11 for all that speculation 01:12  |  and no facts 10/11/08
      51.   What a Whopper of a deal 01:12  |  Rambo 10/11/08
      52.   What a Whopper of a deal Part 2 01:16  |  RAMBO 10/11/08
      53.   Gold Up $9 In Asia 01:30  |  crlman 10/11/08
      54.   BBS on Ethnic Cleansing 01:45  |  Jasper 10/11/08
      55.   BBS NEWS AND 700,000 ARABS 01:52  |  Brant 10/11/08
      56.   david you are mosatly right 01:52  |  but was it an act of 10/11/08
      57.   also david g in 1956 france england and the zio-entity 01:58  |  put together a 10/11/08
      58.   bilbi we just heard the same story from `prous isreali` 02:00  |  please get some new 10/11/08
      59.   What was that timeline Murray? 02:04  |  BBSNews 10/11/08
      60.   If I was Hamas 02:04  |  Fahim 10/11/08
      61.   RAMBO in washington DC? i think you ideas 02:05  |  are in sane and 10/11/08
      62.   the zio-entity 02:10  |  alfredo 10/11/08
      63.   #61 It`s called the State of Israel 02:14  |  Joy 10/11/08
      64.   Gold Up $15 In Asia 02:14  |  crlman 10/11/08
      65.   Hamas sent a trial balloon 02:18  |  Gregor 10/11/08
      66.   alfredo, that is incorrect... 02:28  |  BBSNews 10/11/08
      67.   oslo failed because they never intended to accept Israel for long 02:32  |  El 10/11/08
      68.   What was the date Bilbi? 02:39  |  BBSNews 10/11/08
      69.   crlman ? i do jewelry for a hobby 02:46  |  and the price of 10/11/08
      70.   Jasper, you again advocate ethnic cleansing... 02:48  |  BBSNews 10/11/08
      71.   Here`s what Morris recently said Brant... 03:04  |  BBSNews 10/11/08
      72.   may Zahar be complimented with Ahmed Yassin`s fate, soon, in our 03:10  |  Akiva P 10/11/08
      73.   bbs news 03:34  |  alfredo 10/11/08
      74.   Akiva P needs to learn you cant kill an idea 03:38  |  make peace 10/11/08
      75.   Silver Supplies Depleted 03:43  |  crlman 10/11/08
      76.   BBS on Ethnic Cleansing 03:55  |  Jasper 10/11/08
      77.   Thanks ZISD, very informative 04:00  |  Jasper 10/11/08
      78.   BBS #68; EXACTLY 04:01  |  Brant 10/11/08
      79.   Jasper now turns to outright racism... 06:16  |  BBSNews 10/11/08
      80.   Olmert 07:00  |  Joe Schon 10/11/08
      81.   BBS re Resolution 242 - wrong again 07:11  |  Adrian de Klerk 10/11/08
      82.   Not cavalier Brant... - 2nd try 15:56  |  BBSNews 10/11/08
      83.   de Klerk, Caradon is dead, and you don`t get 242... - 2nd try 15:58  |  BBSNews 10/11/08
      84.   that is not a fact, Alfredo 18:15  |  steve 10/11/08
      85.   (Hamas: No room to implement long-term truce with Israel ), So, 18:40  |  Yaakov K. 10/11/08
      86.   No room for two states 19:45  |  Zev 10/11/08
      87.   #83 BBS - missing the mark again 19:45  |  Adrian de Klerk 10/11/08
      88.   Three cheers For Israel 22:51  |  Cyasher 10/11/08
      89.   many arab countries. 23:14  |  Cyasher 10/11/08
      90.   re: its the pain and 03:19  |  UsedToPostHere 11/11/08
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