HAMAS SALAMI TACTICS

HAMAS IS LOSING ITS WAR WITH ISRAEL AND WANTS A BREATHER WHILE IT RECUPERATES. TOWARD THAT END, IT IS PROPOSING THAT AS A FIRST STEP TOWARD ITS ANNIHILATION OF ISRAEL, ISRAEL LET IT SET UP A PALESTINIAN STATE IN THE DISPUTED TERRITORIES AS A FOOTHOLD FOR THE EVENTUAL DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL. SOUNDS LIKE A DEAL.

Hamas official: We will agree to two states, peace with Israel
In an apparent change in long-standing policy, a top Hamas leader said Friday the group would accept the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as a long-term truce with Israel.

Hamas has long sought to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic Palestinian state, rejecting peace accords and carrying out suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed hundreds of people and badly damaged peace efforts.

"Hamas has announced that it accepts a Palestinian independent state within the 1967 borders with a long-term truce," Sheik Hassan Yousef, the top Hamas leader in the West Bank, told The Associated Press, referring to lands Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day war.

Yousef said the Hamas position was new and called it a "stage." In the past, Hamas has said it would accept a state in the 1967 borders as a first step to taking over Israel. Yousef did not spell out the conditions for the renewable ceasefire nor did he say how long it would last.

"For us a truce means that two warring parties live side by side in peace and security for a certain period and this period is eligible for renewal," Yousef said. "That means Hamas accepts that the other party will live in security and peace."

Yousef stopped short of saying his group would give up claims to all of the land of Israel. A number of Hamas heads have in the past said they would accept an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip only as a step toward taking control of all of Israel. His comments indicated that four years of fighting with Israel - during which the IDF has targeted the group's top leaders - along with international sanctions have taken a toll.