Hamas

Head of Hamas Political Bureau Khaled Meshal

has said that the results of the latest Israeli

elections, which brought Benjamin Netanyahu to

form a new government 'will further diminish

hopes for peace.'

Speaking to the BBC, Meshal stated that the

victory of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's

Likud party and its right-wing allies meant there

would be "more extremism".

When asked whether his movement agrees on

the two-state solution with Israel, he said 'Israel

with its extremist leadership has killed the peace

process, the two-state solution and every

opportunity of a political solution for the

Palestinian cause.'

He insisted that his movement was not looking

for any escalation, but would defend itself. 'If

there is occupation, aggression, war and killing.'

Meshal replied on a question whether his

movement's activities were overshadowed with

the activities of the extremist Jihadists, saying

'Hamas is a model of an active resistance for a

just cause –battling occupied with a moderate

and open minded ideology.'

Condemning other so called jihadi groups such

as Al Nusra and ISIS, he explained that 'others

are acting violently in the name of Jihad, this is

not Islam.'

Regarding the people who do not believe that

Hamas is a moderate organisation, Meshal

laughed and said that 'the principles do not

change. The people who laugh at Hamas should

laugh at [Nelson] Mandela, the Vietnamese and

what [Charles] de Gaulle did when he fought

the Nazi occupation in WWII.'

'They should laugh at George Washington who

led the American Revolution. The people of the

world have been liberating from occupiers.

Palestinian people are doing the same and

Hamas is doing the same.'

He mentioned that Netanyahu during his

election campaign had pledged to ensure a

Palestinian state would not be established.

In addition, prior to his victory in the elections,

Netanyahu said 'whoever moves to establish a

Palestinian state or intends to withdraw from

territory is simply yielding territory for radical

Islamic terrorist attacks against Israel.'

Asked if that meant a state would not be

established if he remained prime minister, he

said: 'Indeed.'

During a visit to the illegal Israeli settlement of

Har Homa in the occupied East Jerusalem,

Netanyahu vowed to preserve Jerusalem's unity

'in all its parts' and said he would 'continue to

build and fortify' the city to prevent any future

division.