Deal With Hamas, Meshaal Urges West

Under international pressure, Israel and Hamas declared separate ceasefires in the Gaza Strip after a 22-day Israeli offensive.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal urged the West on Wednesday to lift its boycott of the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip.

"I tell European nations ... three years of trying to eliminate Hamas is enough. It is time for you to deal with Hamas, which has gained legitimacy through struggle," Meshaal said in a televised speech from the Syrian capital.

Under international pressure, Israel and Hamas declared separate ceasefires in the Gaza Strip after a 22-day Israeli offensive devastated the small, densely-populated Palestinian territory and killed about 1,300 Palestinians.

Thirteen Israelis were killed -- 10 soldiers and three civilians killed by Palestinian rocket fire.

Israel said its offensive was to stop Palestinian militants firing rockets into Israel.

"This battle has proved that force alone will not provide security for the Zionist entity (Israel) and that peace will not be at the expense of Palestinian rights," Meshaal said.

France, which played a role in halting the Gaza war, indicated on Tuesday that it might be prepared to hold talks with Hamas even if Hamas did not recognise Israel.

The European Union, along with the three other main Middle East mediators -- the United States, the United Nations and Russia -- has said there can be no dealing with Hamas until it recognises Israel, renounces armed struggle and accepts interim peace deals signed by the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

Hamas won a parliamentary election in 2006 and drove its Fatah rivals from Gaza by force in 2007.

Leaders of Hamas have said they are not prepared to recognise Israel but would accept the establishment of a Palestinian state on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war in return for a truce with the Jewish state lasting decades.

Meshaal lives in Syria along with other exiled Palestinian leaders.