Hamas is prepared to accept a temporary cease-fire with Israel if the latter halts its assassination attacks and releases Palestinian prisoners, Hamas leader outside Palestine Khaled Mashaal said in remarks published Tuesday.
In an interview with the Al-Hayat daily, Mashaal said that recent meetings between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian factions had produced "positive results."
"There is a talk about pacification," Mashaal said. "But it is a conditional pacification whereby the occupation forces must abide by specific conditions. The most important of which is the cessation of all kinds of aggression, invasion, assassination, killings and the release of all Palestinian prisoners."
"If the (Israeli) enemy abides by these conditions, we, in Hamas, and other resistance forces in general, are prepared to deal positively with the issue of pacification or temporary truce," Mashaal was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
On Monday, Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip Sami Abu Zuhri said the Islamic resistance group didn't object to reaching a truce in principle. "While we have no objection to reaching a ceasefire, we insist that it be reciprocal and should involve total cessation of Zionist aggression, assassinations, home demolitions and incursions. The Zionist enemy would have also to free our prisoners."
