‘We are not fanatics,’ Hamas leader says

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was interviewed by US broadcaster PBS in the Qatari capital of Doha on Saturday.

A full version of the interview will be broadcast late on Monday, but excerpts are revealed on Sunday on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

Asked by veteran interviewer Charlie Rose whether he could foresee living beside Israelis in peace, Mashaal says only a future Palestinian state could decide whether to recognize the Jewish state.

“We are not fanatics, we are not fundamentalists. We are not actually fighting the Jews because they are Jews per se. We do not fight any other races. We fight the occupiers,” he says.

“I’m ready to coexist with the Jews, with the Christians and the Arabs and non-Arabs,” he adds. “However, I do not coexist with the occupiers.”

Pressed on whether Palestinians could recognize the state of Israel as a Jewish state, Mashaal reiterates Hamas’s position — the group does not recognize Israel.

“When we have a Palestinian state, then the Palestinian state will decide on its policies. You cannot actually ask me about the future. I answered you,” he continues.

“But Palestinian people can have their say when they have their own state without occupation.”

— AFP