Hamas would accept state on 1967 borders

Bethlehem – Ma’an – Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas-affiliated prime minister in Gaza, said on Saturday that his government would be willing to accept a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with Israel.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Haniyeh made this pledge to a meeting of 11 European members of Parliament who sailed to Gaza in protest of the Israeli siege of the coastal territory.

Haaretz journalist Amira Hass, who has been barred from Gaza for two years, sailed with the European delegation on Saturday.

According to Haaretz, Clare Short, who served in the cabinet of former British prime minister Tony Blair, asked Haniyeh to repeat a previous offer to accept the 1967 borders in exchange for a long-term truce with Israel, “if Israel recognized the Palestinians’ national rights.”

In response to a question about whether there are in fact two Palestinian states, Haniyeh reportedly 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."

Baron Nazir Ahmed, a Pakistani-born member of the British House of Lords asked Haniyeh about Hamas’ relations with Iran, and about the allegation that the movement seeks the wholesale destruction of the Jews.

"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 answered.

The meeting took place at Haniyeh’s official guest house in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood, formerly the guesthouse of Yasser Arafat.

"Your visit proves that the Palestinian people is not alone in its struggle against the blockade and that many of the peoples of the free and cultured world support us," Haniyeh told his guests.

According to Haaretz, He explained to them why Hamas boycotted the talks with Fatah that were scheduled to begin on Sunday in Cairo. "We had 17 political detainees [from Fatah, held without trial and without being charged] being held in harsh conditions - I’m not proud of that," Haniyeh said. "They were released. We expected a similar measure from our brothers in Ramallah, but unfortunately the situation only worsened ahead of the meeting in Cairo."

According to Haniyeh, about 400 Hamas activists are being held in Palestinian Authority jails in the West Bank, and all requests to release them ‘have fallen on deaf ears.’