THE WORD OF HAMAS. Truly, a great beginning for peace. Not.

Hamas spokesman, Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, said on Sunday that his organization is willing to declare a limited truce with Israel and will accept a “temporary” Palestinian state in areas captured by Israel in the 1967 six day war. “We propose a 10 year ceasefire in return for (Israeli) withdrawal and the establishment of a state” Rantisi said in a telephone interview with the Reuters news agency from his hideout in the Gaza strip.” It is difficult to liberate all our land at this stage, so we are willing to accept a phased liberation. We accept a state in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip”, said Rantisi.

Rantisi emphasized that Hamas would not recognize Israel or view the truce as an end to the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

According to Rantisi, debates over agreeing to a Palestinian state with pre ’67 borders are not new. “Now the movement has accepted the notion”, said Rantisi who doubts the Israelis would accept the proposal. “They rejected the Palestinian Authorities’ proposal that demanded less land than what we are offering”, he said.

If one really stretches one's mind, it's possible to interpret this as actually edging towards a long-term eventual acceptance of Israel, but I'm rather more inclined to take them at their word.

Read The Rest Scale: 2 out of 5.