Hamas threatens fresh uprising if peace talks fail

Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal said today his group was willing to give peace negotiations six months to reach an agreement for a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, but threatened a new uprising if talks fail.

Mashaal was meeting in Cairo with Egyptian officials who have been acting as intermediaries on the crisis over Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit and the formation of a Palestinian unity government by Hamas and its rival Fatah party.