A so-called expert recently told the BBC that Hamas would have to change now that it was in power since the Palestinian wanted a government that would recognize Israel, resume negotiations and be acceptable to the United States. If that were the case, Palestinians would have voted for Al Fatah. If they did it for Hamas, it is precisely due to opposite reasons, contrary to what the expert had indicated: Hamas does not recognize Israel, it does not want to continue a humiliating peace process and prefers to be accepted by Palestinians rather than by Americans.
However, the fact that Hamas does not recognize Israel does not mean that it is unable to negotiate. Hamas could negotiate on the basis of the concept of hudnah (truce). For Hamas, Palestinians are the scapegoat of the holocaust in Europe. But Israel is a reality with which it is necessary to negotiate. The Oslo process and its continuation are based upon the principle that Israel is the victim and the key for peace is the end of terrorism. The new peace process that Hamas and the Palestinian want has to be based on the fact that the Palestinians are the victims of the occupation and the problem is not terrorism but the Israeli aggression.
And before being killed by missiles, the sheik Yasín had admitted that in case the borders were nor re-established as in 1967, a solution might be a ceasefire for more than one generation. Today, the IRA dreams of a reunified Ireland but does not allow negotiations with the British government. We will let the pro-Great Israel followers dream of Eretz Israel which expands from the Nile to Euphrates but we should not stop negotiating.

Source
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

«Hamas will make a deal», by Azzam Tamimi, The Guardian, January 30, 2006.