In 2006 letter to President Bush, Hamas indirectly recognises Israel

A few months after Hamas's 2006 election victory, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh sent a letter to US President George W. Bush asking to lift the boycott on Hamas and calling for pressure to be placed on Israel to maintain stability in the region. According to the letter obtained by Haaretz newspaper, Haniyeh met with US Professor Jerome Segal who had been involved in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and who had contacts in the US administration. In a meeting in Gaza, Haniyeh dictated a message to Segal to relay to President Bush. The message emphasised that Hamas was the elected government through a democratic process and requested that the US drop the boycott against its government. It added that Hamas wanted stability and security in the region that it was willing to accept a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders and a long-term truce with Israel.

Segal returned to the US after the meeting and forwarded the letter to the State Department. In his own letter, Segal said that the acceptance of a state within the 1967 borders and a long term truce was Hamas's de facto recognition of Israel. Washington did not respond to the letter and maintained the boycott against the organisation. Hamas has refused to accept Israel's right to exist and has called for the constitution of a Palestinian state in on the entire area west of the Jordan River. Every so often, members of the organisation's leadership declare that they would be willing to accept a Palestinian state in the 1967 border but these voices do not represent the mainstream in Hamas.

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