Then there is the problem of Hamas’s notorious charter. We asked Khaled Mishal about it in Damascus. Written 20 years ago by one of its hardliners, Fattah Al Dukhan, who is seen in the film, the charter is a fairly unreconstructed rant about Israel and Jews in general. Yet Hamas hasn’t changed it or updated it, despite many attempts by the more PR-aware senior Hamas members to do so. So it remains a basis upon which to dismiss them as uncompromising extremists — a reason to exclude them from any talks.
The charter is not quoted or even mentioned by the leadership these days and doesn’t appear to chime with their present policies. But Mishal was adamant that the charter was none of our business; it was an internal matter for Hamas alone to consider. As we pressed him, I laughed and said, ‘You’re just being stubborn, aren’t you?’ He blurted out in English, ‘Well yes.’ Then he regained his composure, smiled and replied, ‘We will change it when we want to change it, not when others want us to.’ Later on, he offered Israel a traditional Islamic truce — 10, 20, 30 years without fighting, if Israel would retreat back to the 1967 borders. ‘We will talk with anyone,’ he said.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/488651/part_4/inside-hamas-my-journey-to-its-secret-heart.thtml