According to the United Arab Emirates newspaper al-Bayan, the U.S. and the European Union have offered Hamas a deal to remove the group’s name from the list of terror organizations in exchange for dismantling its military wing and stop all aggression against Israel.
"We have received direct and indirect messages from the American government regarding this issue," Al-Bayan quoted one senior Hamas member saying.
According to Al-Bayan, the offer was made in a meeting between a U.S. delegation and Hamas’s deputy political bureau head Moussa Abu Marzouk in Beirut.
"In the end, we are not the Taliban, al-Qaeda or even Iran who determine borders for its citizens in the name of Islam," the Hamas leader was quouted as saying. "We are Hamas – a moderate Islamic movement."
The UAE newspaper also quoted the Hamas leader as saying "Once you solve the Palestinian problem and the occupation will come to an end, our military wing will cease to exist. We believe the Jihad is a means and not an aim.”
Surprisingly enough, Al-Baayn quoted the Hamas leaders as saying that “there is nothing preventing Hamas from recognizing Israel and accepting the idea of two states living side-by-side, as long as Israel retreats to its 1967 borders.”, a statements that contradicts Hamas’s ideological believe that the entire Palestine is an Islamic Waqf.
Hamas leaders in the Gaza strip have dismissed media news over Hamas-US-EU talks as an attempt to damage the movement’s reputation.
