Meshaal: Netanyahu´s Vision for Palestinian State Lame

Source: almanar.com.lb, 25-6-2009

Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Meshaal rejected Thursday "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vision of a demilitarized Palestinian state, calling it "a lame solution, not a proper political entity."

Meshaal said the minimum his group would accept was establishment of an Arab state with its capital in occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem) and full sovereignty in the areas liberated by "Israel" in 1967, dismantling of Jewish communities in those areas, and permission for return of the families of Arabs who left when the Zionist entity was founded in 1948.

Meshaal said that his organization would cooperate with all international efforts "to bring an end to the occupation." In a Damascus policy speech intended to respond to recent addresses by "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United States President Barack Obama, Meshaal said the West is responsible for "Israeli" "extremism and intransigence".

As for captured "Israeli" occupation soldier Gilad Shalit, Meshaal added that Netanyahu's only option to freeing him was "through a prisoner exchange deal." The "Israeli" "stubbornness," he said is the reason the deal has failed so far. "We will keep doing everything we can to see our prisoners released," he added.