Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday called on the international donors to keep giving aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas won last week's parliamentary elections and said it would abide by all accords with Israel.
Abbas was speaking following a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Reuters reported.
"I stressed the importance of the continuation of financial and other types of support by the donor countries... in order that the institutions continue to function and the plan to build our independent Palestinian state is not disrupted or derailed," Abbas said.
"Our readiness for negotiations on the final status still stands. We stand by our political and security commitments in line with agreements we have signed."
Hamas sets conditions
Meanwhile, a prominent Hamas leader told CNN that a long-term ceasefire with Israel is possible if the Zionist state retreats to its pre-1967 borders and frees Palestinian captives, Hamas leader. "We can expect to establish our independent state on the area before '67 and we can give a long-term hudna (truce)," said Dr. Mahmoud Zahar.
He specified a number of conditions that he said could lead to years of co-existence alongside Israel. He said that if Israel "is ready to give us the national demand to withdraw from the occupied area [in] '67; to release our detainees; to stop their aggression; to make geographic link between Gaza Strip and West Bank, at that time, with assurance from other sides, we are going to accept to establish our independent state at that time, and give us one or two, 10, 15 years time in order to see what is the real intention of Israel after that."
Asked about Hamas' policy which calls for Israel's destruction, Zahar said that this remains the goal. "We are not speaking about the future, we are speaking now," he stated.
Zahar argued that Israel has no true intention of accepting a Palestinian state. Until Israel says what its final borders will be, Hamas will not say whether it will ever recognize Israel, Zahar stressed. "If Israel is ready to tell the people what is the official border, after that we are going to answer this question."
Asked whether Hamas would renounce "terrorism," Zahar claimed that the definition of terrorism is unfair. Israel is "killing people and children and removing our agricultural system - this is terrorism," he said. He described Hamas as a "liberating movement."
