Gaza, Aug 13 (Xinhua) Hamas will deal “positively” with the new peace plan by the US but only if a separate Palestinian state is recognized, an aide to the Islamic movement’s leader Ismail Haneya said Thursday.
“We have an initial readiness to accept it and deal with it positively but we will also reject it if it doesn’t include an American recognition of Palestinian rights,” said Yousef Rizka, Haneya’s political advisor.

“The plan should endorse a Palestinian statehood with Jerusalem as its capital. Hamas will take an indepth study of the plan when it is made public,” Rizka told Xinhua.

Recent media reports have said that Obama was drafting a plan to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. According to the plan, the West will step up its boycott of Hamas if the Islamic group does not announce a clear position regarding the plan.

But Rizka said that Hamas makes up its positions “mainly from the level of meeting the Palestinian rights”.

The US administration and the European Union list Hamas as a terrorist foreign administration due to its charter which calls for the destruction of Israel.

Rizka said that Hamas now accepts a Palestinian statehood alongside Israel “but only in exchange for a long-term truce” with the Jewish state. “This is a firm position that we cannot give up.”

Hamas has been controlling Gaza since it routed security forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and ousted his Fatah movement. Abbas holds sway in the West Bank.