Hamas prime minister says he will not head a government that recognizes Israel

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Friday he will not recognize a government that recognizes Israel his clearest statement yet on the terms of sharing power with the moderate Fatah movement.

Photo: Hamas prime minister says he will not head a government that recognizes Israel

Haniyeh spoke a day after moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas indicated that a coalition government of Hamas and Abbas' Fatah would recognize the Jewish state.

"I personally will not head any government that recognizes Israel," Haniyeh said in a mosque sermon in Gaza City on Friday, laying out his group's positions.

Haniyeh said Hamas is ready to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War, and to honor a long-term truce with Israel, reports AP.

"We support establishing a Palestinian state in the land of 1967 at this stage, but in return for a cease-fire, not recognition," Haniyeh said.