Related: Israel rules out co-op with Hamas

   CAIRO, Feb. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- A Hamas leader said here on Wednesday that his group would not recognize Israel, despite mounting international pressure.

   "Hamas will not recognize Israel and we will not give legitimacy to occupation," Khaled Mashaal, Hamas' political leader who was currently at a visit to Egypt, told a press conference.

Senior Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (2nd-R), is surrounded by his bodyguards after a news conference in Cairo Feb. 8. (Reuters)

   Mashaal said Hamas would not give up violence as it was entitled to resist what it regarded as occupation of the Palestinian land by Israel.

   Mashaal, who headed a Hamas delegation to Cairo since Sunday, held talks with Egyptian officials on forming a new Palestinian government.

   Hamas swept the Jan. 25 legislative elections, defeating the long-dominant Fatah movement led by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

   Moussa Abu Marzouq, deputy chief of Hamas political bureau, said the movement would not recognize Israel, but there was a clear-cut distinction between recognizing Israel and dealing with it.

   "The Palestinian authorities have to deal with the occupation forces in various domains, as this fact has nothing to do with recognition of Israel," he said.

   Marzouq explained that there was cooperation between the Palestinians and Israel in a variety of areas before recognizing Israel. Enditem