Hamas ceasefire?

A Hamas spokesman, Sheikh Hassan Youssef, told Associated Press in Gaza on
Friday that the group "accepts a Palestinian State within the 1967 borders
and a long-term truce." This is a complete reversal of previous hard-line
Hamas positions, and raised some skepticism within Israel. Not only that,
the statement was contradicted by a Hamas spokesman in Lebanon, Osama
Hamdan, who said that there has been no change in Hamas long-standing
policy, to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic State, and he said
he found it hard to believe that such a statement had been made.
This reversal and confusion makes sense in the situation that Hamas finds
itself in, where its prime leadership has been decimated by the IDF's
targeted killings, its financial base has been greatly undermined by the
listing of Hamas as a terrorist group by the US and UK, and there is strong
pressure from Mahmoud Abbas and the Fatah, as well as the Egyptian
Government, to come to terms and make a ceasefire with Israel, at least
during the period of the PA elections.
However, even with this statement, Hamas did not give up any claims to the
territory that is now Israel, and its truce would be time delimited,
allowing it to reverse the situation and renew the "armed struggle" again,
whenever it felt like it. In fact, the confusion may represent a struggle
between different factions in Hamas that either want to settle down and
concentrate on the social and political aspects of Palestinian Statehood,
and those who represent the extremists who want to continue the violent
struggle against Israel. If Hamas is split in this way, Abbas may use his
power and persuasion in order to support the "moderate" Hamas elements
(although that is almost a contradiction in terms).
One condition that Youssef mentioned was that Israel must halt its targeting
of their members. Although a leader of Islamic Jihad was killed during an
attempted arrest near Jenin on Friday, and a leader of Hamas was captured
with two of his lieutenants in Tulkarm (only 30 min drive inland from here),
PM Sharon in a speech on Thursday stated that Israel would halt offensive
military operations in Gaza and the West Bank should there be a ceasefire
and calm prevails. It was also announced by the PM's office that Israel
would cooperate closely with the PA in facilitating the Palestinian
elections.
Once again, these statements by Hamas are only words so far. But, should
these words become reality, should there be an actual ceasefire implemented
by Hamas, and should they instead of boycotting the PA elections, actually
participate in them, then this would indeed be a major change in the
situation. It is in the wake of the death of Arafat and the initiative by
Israel of the planned Disengagement from Gaza that these major changes are
having their repercussions. Even Hamas must reassess its situation.