Hamas says contacts took place with US
The Palestinian Islamist resistance group Hamas has had contacts with US officials and does not rule out further talks.
Muhammad Nazzal, a member of the Hamas political bureau based in Damascus, said on Monday on the group’s Internet website:
“In principle, we are not hostile to contacts or meetings with the American administration. In the past we have had such contacts without revealing their existence or contents.”
Nazal added: “We are leaving the door open to all, except
representatives of the Zionist entity (Israel).”
He denied reports about an attempt at mediation by Qatar based on getting Hamas to suspend its anti-Israeli violence in exchange for a US commitment to lift the freeze on its bank accounts and remove it Washington’s list of “terror” groups.
Sources close to the group told AFP that meetings with American representatives had taken place in Beirut and Qatar, though no indication was given of when they had occurred.