Hamas to Keep Weapons, Won't Change Charter

"The Europeans and the Americans are telling Hamas to choose between arms and parliament. We say we will go for arms and parliament and there is no contradiction between the two of them," Ismail Haniya, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, said Wednesday. Gaza Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said the group "will not change a single word in its covenant" calling for the destruction of Israel, and would continue its path of "resistance," even as it serves in the Palestinian parliament.