Hamas would recognise Israel if it withdraws to its pre-1967 borders, a French Jewish writer said this week after meeting the exiled leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement, Khaled Meshaal.
"He told me that Hamas was prepared to recognise Israel on the lines of June 4, 1967. He told me so several times," Marek Halter told AFP on Monday.
The date refers to Palestinian demands for an end to Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 war.
Halter's meeting with Meshaal took place in Damascus last month, on the eve of Israel's 22-day offensive, which left more than 1,330 Palestinians dead, according to Gaza medics, and vast swathes of the territory in ruins.
The writer said he informed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of Meshaal's comments at the start of the Gaza conflict, which ended on January 18 as Israel and Hamas declared unilateral ceasefires.
"Now they will have to decide," whether to talk to Hamas, said Halter, who said Meshaal had newly decided to support peace negotiations with Israel, for fear of "becoming irrelevant".
Hamas, which is officially committed to the destruction of the Jewish state whatever its frontiers, has controlled Gaza since June 2007 when it ousted forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Israel, Washington and the European Union all refuse to recognise Hamas rule, branding it a terrorist organisation.
Meshaal called in a speech aired on Arab satellite televisions last week for Western powers to lift a ban on contacts with his movement.
Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair has said the diplomatic Quartet - Europe, Russia, the United States and United Nations - would deal with Hamas if it accepts a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"He told me that Hamas was prepared to recognise Israel on the lines of June 4, 1967. He told me so several times," Marek Halter told AFP on Monday.
The date refers to Palestinian demands for an end to Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 war.
Halter's meeting with Meshaal took place in Damascus last month, on the eve of Israel's 22-day offensive, which left more than 1,330 Palestinians dead, according to Gaza medics, and vast swathes of the territory in ruins.
The writer said he informed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of Meshaal's comments at the start of the Gaza conflict, which ended on January 18 as Israel and Hamas declared unilateral ceasefires.
"Now they will have to decide," whether to talk to Hamas, said Halter, who said Meshaal had newly decided to support peace negotiations with Israel, for fear of "becoming irrelevant".
Hamas, which is officially committed to the destruction of the Jewish state whatever its frontiers, has controlled Gaza since June 2007 when it ousted forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Israel, Washington and the European Union all refuse to recognise Hamas rule, branding it a terrorist organisation.
Meshaal called in a speech aired on Arab satellite televisions last week for Western powers to lift a ban on contacts with his movement.
Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair has said the diplomatic Quartet - Europe, Russia, the United States and United Nations - would deal with Hamas if it accepts a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
