(Adds U.S. comment, paragraph 12)
By Sean Maguire and Khaled Oweis
DAMASCUS, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Hamas acknowledges the
existence of Israel as a reality but formal recognition will
only be considered when a Palestinian state has been created,
the movement's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal said on Wednesday.
Softening a previous refusal to accept the Jewish state's
existence, Meshaal said Israel was a "matter of fact" and a
reality that will persist.
"There will remain a state called Israel," Meshaal said in
an interview in the Syrian capital, in what appeared to be
clearest statement yet by the Islamist group on its attitude
toward the state it previously said had no right to exist.
"The problem is not that there is an entity called Israel,"
said Meshaal, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in
1997. "The problem is that the Palestinian state is
non-existent."
Israel and Western governments have put financial sanctions
on the Hamas-led Palestinian government for refusing to
recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept past peace
accords. The embargo has hit the Palestinian economy hard.
Meshaal said Hamas would defy the Western conditions, which
he described as blackmail, and would refuse to consider formal
recognition of Israel until a viable Palestinian state was
established.
Continued...
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
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