Moderate voices vie for clout within Hamas

When imprisoned Palestinians from both Hamas and Fatah last week issued a joint platform that calls for a Palestinian state with the "1967 boundaries," Hamas was caught off guard. Leaders of Hamas, the Islamic militant organization-cum-political party now at the helm of the Palestinian Authority, have said that they will not recognize Israel or endorse a two-state solution - and the prison statement implied something quite the contrary.

Reactions from the Hamas leadership ran the gamut. Several Hamas spokesman were quick to insist that the letter didn't explicitly indicate support for a two-state solution, while others said Hamas is open to negotiation and will follow the will of the people.

Perhaps it is no surprise that those messages sound mixed. Now more than ever, Hamas is speaking with many voices. In the past, the Hamas line was articulated by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the organization's spiritual leader and founder, along with a couple of other top spokesmen - several of them, along with Yassin, assassinated in recent years by Israel. Today, however, it sometimes is difficult to pinpoint Hamas policy. Hamas politicians who say Israel has no place in the Islamic Middle East are vying with voices that sound far more moderate and cooperative, such as Ahmed Yousef, the prime minister's senior political adviser.

"If the people decide that they want recognition [of Israel] tomorrow, OK. We'll do it and we'll have a referendum to see if people agree," says Mr. Yousef, an adviser to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah who lived for some 20 years in the US and maintains close ties there. "Those people's opinions are really being considered," he says of the prisoners' document.

Other Hamas members, however, were quick to shed doubt on the prisoners' platform indicating support for a two-state solution. Government spokesman Ghazi Hamad says many prisoners were totally unaware of the draft. "Nobody spoke about two states in this document," he says, "but it speaks of a general solution accepting the 1967 borders," or the creation of a Palestinian state including the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem, "and we support that."

The prisoners' letter is being viewed by some as a benchmark of moderation emanating from those who are usually considered to hold hardline opinions - and who are held in high esteem in Palestinian society because they were at the forefront of their national struggle. The platform is being looked at with particular interest because it implies a kind of de-facto acceptance of a two-state solution across the two main Palestinian political movements.

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