Hamas is willing to hold talks with the United States and any other country except Israel, the head of Hamas' political bureau, Khaled Meshal, said yesterday.
‘We are coming into power with an open mind, and are ready to talk to anyone in the world, including the United States. Only with Israel we won't talk,’ Meshal said in an interview with the A-Shams radio station based in Nazareth.
‘If the Israelis are thinking of voting for a radical party or leadership, as a result of Hamas' election victory in the Palestinian Authority, they are making a big mistake... I say to the Israeli public, especially to the Jews, the way to end the conflict is not to use more aggression and continued occupation but to end it,’ Meshal said.
He said he was counting on the Arab states and world leaders to help the Palestinian Authority following Israel's freezing tax funds and its efforts to block international aid to the PA.
He added that even European states feel uncomfortable with that decision, ‘knowing that this is the election of a nation, not a takeover.’
Hamas yesterday condemned Israeli military action in Nablus, and called on the international community to intervene in order to stop the Israeli ‘massacre’ there.
Ismail Haniyeh, who was asked by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to form the government, said the IDF's action in Nablus is intended to ‘thwart the efforts to form a government and reorganize the Palestinian arena. We won't accept using Palestinian blood as a means in the Israeli election campaign.’
Hamas distributed a flyer in Nablus yesterday saying it is sticking to the ‘option of resistance to the occupation.’
Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip, Sami Abu Zohari, said yesterday that the IDF strike in Nablus was ‘intended to embarrass Hamas, and sabotage efforts to reach a national consensus.’
Meshal is to head the Hamas delegation scheduled to visit Russia next Friday. The delegation is slated to meet several senior Russian officials, including the foreign minister, but not President Vladimir Putin.