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"Negotiation
is not a taboo," Zahar said.
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GAZA
CITY, January 23, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The
Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has reiterated that it was ready
to hold “indirect” talks with Israel through a third party after
the parliamentary elections slated for Wednesday, January 25.
"Negotiations
are a means. If Israel has anything to offer on the issues of halting
attacks, withdrawal, releasing prisoners ... then 1,000 means can be
found," Reuters quoted senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar as
telling reporters Monday, January 23.
As
an example, he cited contacts the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah
held with Israel, via German mediators, for the release of Lebanese
held in Israeli jails.
"Negotiation
is not a taboo," Zahar said. "But the political crime is
when we sit with the Israelis and then come out with a wide smile to
tell the Palestinian people that there is progress, when in fact,
there is not."
Zahar,
however, stressed that "our entry into the political arena in no
way signifies that we are renouncing our right to resistance.
Palestinians
vote in a parliamentary election Wednesday in which Hamas is running
for the first time.
The
group, popular among the Palestinians for its anti-corruption stand
and extensive charity work, is expected to make a strong showing.
Its
strong performance in polls in the lead-up to Wednesday's vote has
raised the prospect of entering government.
Most
opinion polls show Hamas trailing Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas's Fatah movement, but the margin had narrowed to a few
percentage points.
The
main resistance groups have, meanwhile, announced that they agreed to
maintain calm and stop fighters carrying weapons during the election.
The
seven groups, including the armed wing of Hamas and the Al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades, said they were ready to support the entire process
until the results were declared.
“Unafraid”
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"Negotiation
is not a taboo," Zahar said.
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On
the Israeli side, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will declare in a
keynote speech Tuesday, January 24, that Israel is unafraid of the
prospect of Hamas taking power in this week's Palestinian election.
"I
am not afraid of the results of the election in the Palestinian
Authority and I hope that, whatever the result, it will move Israel
forward towards a settlement with the Palestinians," Israeli Maariv
newspaper quoted Olmert as planning to say.
The
speech, to be made at a security conference north of Tel Aviv, will be
Olmert's first public policy address ahead of Israel's general
election in March since he became acting premier following the
collapse of Ariel Sharon, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He
intends to declare that while Israel would prefer a negotiated
agreement with the Palestinians, he cannot rule out the possibility of
further unilateral withdrawals from Palestinian territory.
Israeli
Labour party leader Amir Peretz vowed Monday to never negotiate with
Hamas unless it revokes a call for Israel's destruction.
"On
the one hand, we will never, under any circumstances, conduct
negotiations with an organization which declares its intention to
destroy the State of Israel, but on the other hand, we will never
agree to a political deadlock," Peretz said in a live broadcast.
“Should
Hamas rise to power and refuse to renounce its call for Israel's
destruction, a Labour government would look for complete separation
from the Palestinians.”
In
London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair told a news conference
Monday it would be difficult for the West to negotiate with or talk to
Hamas "unless there's a very clear renunciation of
terrorism".
Benita
Ferrero-Waldner, the European Union's external relations commissioner,
said in Brussels the EU would not rule out working with a Palestinian
government that included Hamas, provided it sought "peace by
peaceful means" with Israel.
Well-placed
sources told Israeli Ha'aretz newspaper Monday that the US and
EU had promised Israel not to recognize any future Palestinian
government that would include Hamas.
Hamas
has already omitted from its election manifesto its long-standing call
to destroy Israel, adapting to the rules of the political game.
In
June of last year, an EU diplomat told AFP that the euro bloc had been
in contacts with Hamas.
Hamas
spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the meetings between Hamas and EU
diplomats were held in the occupied Palestinian territories and
abroad.
