Cairo: Khaled Mashaal, the Hamas leader, said that fugitives sheltered by his Palestinian militant group would not sign pledges to halt attacks as that would negate the legitimacy of their right to fight the Israeli occupation.

Mr Mashaal, in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials ahead of the Israeli-Palestinian summit, also denied any links to the al-Qaeda terror network or Iraqi insurgent groups, saying that Hamas was “a nationalist liberation movement” limiting its operations against the Israeli occupation.

“Our battle is inside Palestine with the Israeli occupation. We have no relation with what’s going on in Iraq. But, like all Arabs and Muslims, we support the Iraqi people’s right to resist the US occupation,” Mr Mashaal said. (AP) (Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd. 02/04/05)