Hamas leader upbeat on talks with Israel

To enhance its survivability, once the truce is established, the US and the EU should remove Hamas from their terrorist lists and allow it to have greater freedom of movement, as long as it fully adheres to the terms of the truce.

Hamas warned in a statement that the abductions could strain ties with Egypt, which faces a serious security challenge from Islamist militants. The two domains, which contain the future Palestinian state in the perspective of the worldwide group, are isolated by Israel, despite the fact that the self-decide assentions indicate that they are to be dealt with as one regional unit.

But partly because of the failure of the agreement to end occupation and perceived corruption in the ruling Palestinian Authority (PA), discontent with Fatah steadily grew – while the rival Hamas, with its slogan “Islam is the solution”, grew steadily more popular.

“They seem positive, but we have not reached an agreement yet”, Meshaal was quoted as saying in the interview about the alleged negotiations.

Hamas has long had ties to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood that was ousted from power when former president Mohamed Mursi was overthrown by the army in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. Talks are being centered on reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, lifting Israel’s siege, opening the crossings, giving salaries to the employees, and building a seaport and an airport.

The insurgency has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers and Sinai Province recently killed an abducted Croatian hostage.

Now, Fatah says that by agreeing that its channel to the outside world will be via the Mediterranean rather than through a connection with the West Bank, Hamas is deepening that separation.