By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Hamas leaders expressed confidence Tuesday they will be able to form a Palestinian government even if they resisted demands that they recognize Israel and renounce violence.
Hamas' top political leader, Khaled Mashaal, and other officials from the militant movement, met with the head of the Arab League and a top aide of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in talks on a formula for drawing up a new Palestinian government.
Egyptian officials have said they will urge Hamas to moderate its anti-Israel stance, in an attempt to prevent a collapse of the peace process with Israel, which says it will refuse to deal with a Hamas-led government.
Egypt also hopes to bring the more moderate Fatah party of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas into the government, a step that Fatah has so far refused.