Says group will not abandon armed resistance, give up "Palestinian" land.
By JPOST.COM STAFFMashaal 298.88(photo credit: AP)
Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal denied on Saturday that there had been any change in his organization's policies, and declared that Hamas would neither abandon "armed resistance" nor agree to give up an "inch of Palestinian land."
Mashaal made his statements by phone to Hamas supporters who had gathered in Ramallah to mark Israel's assassination three years ago of Hamas leaders Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and Abdul Aziz Rantisi, Israel Radio reported.
Earlier, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's senior political advisor, Muhammad Dahlan, had told the newspaper Al-Hayat al-Jadida that there had recently been a strategic change in Hamas's political views.
Dahlan said that it was obvious that Hamas would "need time" to bring its platform into line with the political needs of the region.
