The United States and the European Union are in contact with Palestinian militant group Hamas despite having listed it as a terrorist organisation, a Hamas leader has said.
Mr Khaled Meshaal, a senior Hamas leader, told the BBC last night the militant group has no plans to agree a ceasefire unless it is decided by a referendum or negotiated among all Palestinian powers.
The group has been at the forefront of a four-year-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.
Mr Meshaal said violence and talks for peace went hand in hand and that Hamas would reject calls for a ceasefire even if they came from a new Palestinian president, who is expected to be elected next month.
"Negotiating without resistance leads to surrender but negotiating with resistance leads to real peace," Mr Meshaal said.
Mr Meshaal said Washington made contact with Hamas recently and the EU is still holding meetings with it.
"The European Union, which put Hamas on a list of terrorist organisations, is still continuing communications and meetings," Meshaal said.
"The American administration, which also put us on terror lists and criticises us, contacted us in the past months."
A spokeswoman for the EU's executive commission said she was unaware of any contact between the bloc and Hamas.
There was no immediate comment from the US State Department and a White House official dismissed the comments.
EU foreign policy chief Mr Javier Solana got himself in a tangle last month when he said he had direct talks with Hamas and then, hours later, denied it.
The EU placed Hamas on its list of terrorist organisations last year after the group rejected repeated EU calls to end suicide bombings in Israel and declare a ceasefire to permit peace negotiations.
The United States also regards Hamas, which advocates the destruction of Israel, as a terrorist group.
Mr Meshaal also said he was convinced that the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had died from poisoning last month, a theory expounded by many Palestinians despite vehement denials from their leaders and doctors who cared for Mr Arafat in Paris.