Hamas Blasts Statehood Bid as Misguided

By Haaretz September 23, 2011

Gaza?s Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday of relinquishing Palestinian rights by seeking recognition for a state in the pre-1967 borders.

Hamas? founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel and a state in all of the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, though some Hamas officials have suggested they would support a peace deal based on the 1967 lines.

?The Palestinian people do not beg the world for a state, and the state can?t be created through decisions and initiatives,? Haniyeh said. ?States liberate their land first and then the political body can be established.?

Earlier this week, Haniyeh reiterated his movement?s opposition to the Palestinian Authority move at the UN, adding however that Hamas would support an independent Palestine on only part of what it considered to be ?historic Palestine? if that state would adhere to core Hamas principles, according to an AFP report.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

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