Interview: Hamas open to idea of joining task force supporting talks with Israel

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - The Hamas-led government is open to the idea of joining a Palestinian task force that would support negotiations with Israel, the deputy prime minister from Hamas said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press.

The proposal, to be discussed this week among Palestinian factions, represents a possible way out of a crippling international boycott of the Palestinian Authority. But an Israeli spokesman brushed off the idea, calling it "verbal gymnastics and double talk."

In the interview, Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer said the new Hamas-led government is searching for a way to accept international realities without caving in to pressure.

"Hamas does not want to lose its supporters, but at the same time does not want to fight the whole world," he said.

While Hamas has sent conflicting messages about its willingness to moderate, its leaders have hinted at the possibility of de facto recognition of Israel and acceptance of a Palestinian state that would be limited to the West Bank and Gaza.

Shaer's comments appeared to signal another step in what could be a softening of the group's rejectionist stance.

The boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority is causing a financial and humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and Gaza, with the government unable to pay some 165,000 public employees whose salaries form the backbone of the Palestinian economy.

Hamas took over the government after winning parliamentary elections in January, but moderate Mahmoud Abbas, elected separately a year earlier, remains president. The two sides are locked in a struggle for power.

Shaer, who is considered a relative pragmatist among Hamas leaders, said his government would not oppose talks with Israel led by Abbas, known popularly as Abu Mazen - and would even join a "committee of national strategy" that would support a resumption of long-stalled peace talks and advise Abbas.

"There is an idea among Palestinians to give Abu Mazen a chance. If it works, why not?" Shaer said.

If the talks fail, he said, then "we send a message to the whole world that the problem is not with the Palestinians but with the Israelis."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, said Israel is ready to talk to Abbas and the Palestinian Authority but placed strict conditions on such negotiations.

"From this podium today I extend my hand in peace to Mahmoud Abbas, the elected leader of the Palestinian Authority," he said. "On behalf of the state of Israel we are willing to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority."

However, Olmert said Hamas glorifies terrorism and works for the destruction of Israel. "As long as these are their guiding principles, they can never be a partner" for peace talks, he said.

Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, dismissed Shaer's comments, noting Hamas still rejects the international conditions - recognizing Israel, renouncing violence and accepting past peace agreements.

"No amount of double talk can cover up the simple fact that Hamas has stubbornly refused to accept these benchmarks," Regev said.

As Shaer spoke to the AP, a fresh round of killing wracked the West Bank and Gaza, underscoring the rising instability in the Palestinian territories.

Shaer gave his interview amid the sound of gunshots from a fierce clash between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants a kilometre away in downtown Ramallah. Four Palestinians were killed and more than 30 wounded in a shootout that broke out after Israeli undercover agents swooped in to arrest an Islamic Jihad leader.

Shaer, the top Hamas government official in the West Bank, repeated Hamas' rejection of the three conditions set by the international community for doing business with them.

But he sought to draw a distinction between Hamas as a political party and the government, saying the government could be a part of the task force backing peace talks.

However, Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official in Syria, maintained a harder line in a telephone interview with the AP.

"Hamas has not and will not negotiate (with Israel)," he said. The Hamas leadership in exile in Syria has consistently shown far less flexibility than the internal leaders.

Shaer said any agreement negotiated by Abbas would have to be ratified by the Palestinian people, either through a referendum or by the legislative council.

He said the task force would include representatives from the government, various political factions and the presidency - and that it would be discussed this week by Palestinian political and civil leaders seeking a way out of the crisis.

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