CAIRO, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Meshaal said his Islamic militant group will not recognize Israel, vowing to amalgamate armed resistance with politics.
"Hamas movement will not recognize Israel... Logic implies requesting the Zionist killer (Israel) to recognize the Palestinian victim, but certain parties in the international community find it easy to put pressure on the weak party," Meshaal told a press conference at the Egyptian Journalists' Union in Cairo Wednesday.
He reiterated the Islamic militant group's attachment to armed resistance against Israeli occupation, saying "we will give an example of joining resistance and politics and resistance and power."
Hamas, which won with a landslide last month's general elections, dealing a humiliating defeat to the ruling Fatah movement, is expected to form the new government.
Meshaal also warned Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas not to take any unilateral moves or decisions before the formation of the next government.
"We will not accept any infringement on the powers and prerogatives of the government which we will be asked to form," Meshaal said.
He was referring to a decision by the speaker of the outgoing parliament Rawhi Ftouh appointing Fatah official Ibrahim Kharisheh in the post of director general of the legislative council. Ftouh made the move after general elections in which Hamas grabbed 74 seats in the 132-member new parliament.
Meshaal denied that his talks with Egyptian officials dealt with the possibility of declaring a long-term truce with Israel.
He said Israel is not currently ready for any initiatives or political understandings, asking "who is the Israeli leader who will have enough courage to impose on the Israelis to withdraw from the West Bank?"
Meshaal was quoted as saying in an interview with the BBC that Hamas will agree to a long-term truce with Israel if the latter agrees to withdraw from territories captured in the 1967 Middle East war, recognizes the right of return for Palestinian refugees and removes all settlements erected in the Palestinian territories since 1967.
