Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said his movement did not oppose the creation of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders in a gradual manner, but insisted on not recognizing Israel.
“In the interim framework, Hamas is not opposed to establishing a state on the 1967 borders, but we are steadfast in not recognizing the occupation of the rest of the Palestinian territories,” he told a meeting organized by the Palestinian Association for Communication and Information in Istanbul on Saturday.
He attacked the American and Israeli governments, saying they were “historically the most extreme in their policy toward Palestine.”
“Unfortunately, the United States and Europe are going along with the Israeli narrative, and this contradicts the [UN] Charter and the international conventions on the right of peoples to resist their occupants,” he stated, also condemning a meeting between the Bahraini foreign minister and Israeli officials in Washington.
Haniyeh revealed that a senior Hamas leadership delegation began a visit to Iran on Saturday, which will last several days.
“We look forward to important results from this visit,” he noted.
Hamas has recently reactivated its shaky relations with Iran, but the Syrian regime refused to normalize its ties with the movement, despite an Iranian mediation.
“The decision to quit Syria was an institutional decision, which was well studied… We have not intervened in internal Syrian affairs before and we will not intervene at any stage,” he said, hoping for the country’s “strong recovery”.
