The exiled Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal
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We can accept Israel as neighbour, says Hamas
Hamas said today it would accept a Palestinian state on land occupied in the 1967 war, but it would not explicitly recognise Israel
the leader of Hamas, said the group would "respect Palestinian national will even if it was against our convictions", an apparent reference to a referendum on a peace deal
His comments came at a news conference in Damascus, Syria, after a rare series of meetings between the former US president Jimmy Carter and Hamas Islamists in the West Bank, Cairo and Damascus
Carter said Hamas would accept a two-state peace agreement with Israel as long as it was approved by a Palestinian referendum or a newly elected government
The former US president Jimmy Carter.
Carter, who spoke in Jerusalem, said Hamas had told him it would support the results of a referendum or election on a final-status peace agreement negotiated by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas
clipped from: www.guardian.co.uk