Al-Zahar: Hamas will not recognize Israel

The leading figure in the Hamas movement Mahmoud al-Zahar said that his movement will not recognize Israel, but may sign a long truce with it.

Al-Zahar called in an interview with the British Sunday Telegraph on the international community to deal realistically with Hamas's winning of the elections, considering that there is no reason for fears from Hamas.

He added that so far, Hamas has no official contacts with the West but he stressed that there are channels if contacts and that the movement will make meetings continuously.

In other statements to CBS news, al-Zahar said he does not consider the USA as an enemy, and he also admitted that the US President George W. Bush seizes the key to peace in the region.