Mishaal: We rejected an Arab deal calling for recognizing Israel

Mishaal: We rejected an Arab deal calling for recognizing Israel

DAMASCUS, — Khaled Mishaal, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, said his Movement rejected an offer it received from Arab officials urging it to accept political terms including recognizing Israel in exchange for achieving national reconciliation.

“I have to state the truth; Arab officials told us that there would be no reconciliation or amendments to the reconciliation paper unless we accepted political conditions similar to those made by the [international] Quartet,” Mishaal stated during a ceremony held on Monday in Damascus in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners. 

“We say to the Americans, the Zionists and those who adopt their terms: We will not succumb to your conditions and we will not pay a political price no matter how long the siege will last,” the Hamas political leader underlined.

Speaking about the prisoners, Mishaal vowed to get all prisoners released from Israeli jails through capturing more Israeli soldiers.

“As Gilad Shalit was not the first captive, he will not be the last … this is a promise,” he stressed.