פורום ארץ הצבי

The LA Times :

more of an effort to present a symbolic united front at a time of crisis than to genuinely alter the hard-line stance that has led to the Hamas-dominated government's diplomatic and economic isolation. The Islamist Hamas movement emphasized that it was still not willing to acknowledge Israel's right to exist.

The Toronto Star:

Whether the document, in calling for the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, implies recognition of Israel remains open to interpretation. And whether the fragmented Hamas movement, whose exiled leadership in Damascus opposes any such compromise, is likely to honour the paper is even more questionable.

The Baltimore Sun:

there was confusion yesterday over Hamas' position. Hamas officials denied that they had recognized Israel

The BBC :

Palestinian minister Abdel Rahman Zeidan told the BBC the Hamas-Fatah document did not in any way recognize the state of Israel. ''There is no agreement between the Palestinians on specifically this phrase. You will not find one word in the document clearly stating the recognition of Israel as a state. Nobody has agreed to this. This was not on the table. This was not in the dialogue''.

The NY Times :

But Salah al-Bardawil, a Hamas legislator, told Reuters, ''We said we accept a state in 1967 - but we did not say we accept two states.'' Mr. Masri said in an interview: ''They do exist. It's tangible, they exist, we recognize the fact they exist. What we don't recognize is the legitimacy of the occupation.'' By the last phrase, Hamas normally means the occupation of historic Palestine by an Israeli state of any kind; the Hamas charter explicitly says that Palestine is Islamic waqf - land given by God to Muslims, who cannot cede it or sell it.