Is Hamas reconsidering its position regarding the Israeli-Palestinian peace process? A senior Palestinian official recently sent a high-ranking US official a missive suggesting that is the case.
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According to a report the Amad News website, Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh has sent a letter to US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr saying that Hamas was "committed to a [Palestinian] state according to the 1967 lines."
The terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip regularly calls for Israel's destruction.
According to the report, Sheikh's letter, which focused on the talks between Fatah and Hamas on the 2021 parliamentary and presidential elections – the first in 15 years for the Palestinians – noted that Hamas was "committed to a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital, based on the 1967 lines."
The letter also reportedly stated a commitment to international law, recognition by Hamas of the PLO as the international representative of the Palestinian people, a commitment to accepting the results of the elections, and a commitment to the national struggle – ostensibly in peaceful ways.
This message, however, is likely to ruffle the feathers of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Iranian's local proxy and Hamas' rival in Gaza.
The Islamic Jihad has already announced it will boycott the May 22 parliamentary elections and the July 31 presidential elections citing the fact that they will be held in accordance with the Oslo Accords, which the terrorist group does not recognize.
Regional experts have expressed concern that the PIJ could undermine the Palestinian elections should its Iranian patrons so order.
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