As you know well, this attack led indirectly to the release of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The Israeli government says that one of the reasons for his release is that he has made statements which indicate that the position of Hamas towards Israel could be changing. The release of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin did not come about through any concession from him or us. We did not make any compromises, nor did Sheikh Ahmed Yassin offer any compromise. In fact Ahmed Yassin and all of Hamas's convictions about the struggle with occupation have not changed.
Zionist occupation is still operative in Palestine.
Because of that, the position of Hamas, and most of the Palestinian people, thinks that there can be no compromise of Palestinian rights, and that we must resist the occupation. There's an important point here. The PLO and the Palestinian Authority have recognised Israel's right to exist within the borders of 1948. The position of Hamas since the beginning has been that it does not recognise Israel and will not recognise Israel within any borders. This means that the Hamas movement seeks to liberate everything that was known as Palestine under the British mandate.