SENIOR Hamas leader Ismail Haniya yesterday said the group would accept a peace deal with Israel if the Palestinian people approved it in a referendum.
His statement appeared to signal a shift in the Islamist group's longstanding policy of refusing to accept either Israel's legitimacy or any peace treaty negotiated by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas "will respect the results of a referendum even if the results conflict with Hamas's positions", Mr Haniya said at a rare press conference. "We accept a Palestinian state with full sovereignty on the land occupied in 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital and a solution to the issue of refugees."
However, an Israeli government official pointed out that Mr Haniya did not explicitly say Hamas would be prepared to end its conflict with Israel in such a case.
"They never say that a Palestinian state living alongside Israel will be enough for them, but rather that they will accept it," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Notice that he never says that they will then be willing to live with Israel after that.
"Ultimately, they are committed to an Islamist Palestinian state that will replace Israel."
Mr Abbas restarted direct talks with Israel in September with the aim of reaching a peace agreement within a year.
But negotiations broke down three weeks later after Israel refused to renew a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank that expired on September 26.
Meanwhile, the coalition government in Britain published an amendment to a law that puts visiting officials at risk of arrest for alleged war crimes, sparking outrage from rights groups.
Foreign Secretary William Hague said the change would ensure private arrest warrants for offences under international laws, including the Geneva Conventions, would first have to be approved by the chief prosecutor.
The move was welcomed by Israel, whose politicians and officials have been targeted by warrants brought by pro-Palestinian groups, but Amnesty International said it gave war criminals a "free ticket to escape the law".
Ex-foreign minister Tzipi Livni reportedly cancelled a trip to Britain after a British court issued a warrant for her arrest over Israel's war on Gaza, following an application by Palestinian activists.
Last month, Israel postponed all strategic dialogue with Britain in protest at the law, prompting Mr Hague to promise action.
"The UK is committed to upholding international justice and all of our international obligations. Our core principle remains that those guilty of war crimes must be brought to justice," Mr Hague said.
"This government has been clear that the current arrangements for obtaining arrest warrants in respect of universal jurisdiction offences are an anomaly that allow the UK's systems to be abused for political reasons.
"The proposed change is designed to correct these and ensure that people are not detained when there is no realistic chance of prosecution." The existing law empowers courts to issue warrants against people accused of offences including certain war crimes, torture and hostage-taking, even if they were committed outside the country by someone who is not a British national.
The amendment is yet to be debated in parliament.
