London, Jan 29: Mahmoud Zahar, the joint leader
of Hamas which has been voted to power in last week's
Palestinian election, has ruled out recognizing Israel.
"We are not going to recognize Israel," Zahar said in
an interview, putting paid to suggestions that Hamas may alter its 1988 charter
calling for the destruction of the Jewish state.
But he added, "we can reach out to them with a
long-term Hudna (truce)."
In the interview given in Gaza City, Zahar also called
on the world to recognize Hamas.
"The outside world must not fear us," he said, adding
that while Hamas did not yet have official contact with the
west, "we have channels of communication."
"We meet all the time," said Zahar, who first rose to
power in Hamas in 1989, a year after Ahmed Yassin was jailed
by Israel for ordering the execution of alleged collaborators
with the Jewish state.
"Spies and thieves must fear us," he said, in his
pastel-coloured reception room in the Gaza City, where he was
holding court as the new most powerful man in town, the daily
reported.
The "thieves," he said, in a reference to Israel, "are
those who steal our land."
At the same time, he said "we must not cancel
everything" in reference to the series of deals and accords
that the Palestinian Authority has so far signed with Israel.
"There is a reality and we must deal with it."
Answering a question, Zahar said, "it's not a personal
ambition of mine to be Prime Minister.
According to the report, Hamas may instead be seeking
for the top job an independent candidate who could facilitate
a rapprochement with a world where it continues to be seen as
a terror group.
The organisation's first choice for the post, Salam
Fayyad, a technocrat who until recently was the Palestinian
Finance Minister, has turned it down.
Bureau Report