Sami Abu-Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said on Friday that "Hamas did not issue any statement in this regard."

He also said that Hamas "reiterates its supportive position to all liberation movements and foremost the Iraqi liberation movement, for which Zarqawi was one of the symbols in the face of the American occupation."

Ami Isseroff

Palestinian Hamas denies statement mourning Zarqawi
Fri Jun 9, 2006 06:35 AM ET
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=12479139
GAZA (Reuters) - The ruling Palestinian faction Hamas on Friday denied issuing a statement mourning the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, but hailed him as a symbol of resistance to occupation. Reuters received a statement on Thursday saying that Hamas mourned Zarqawi,
killed in a strike north of Baghdad by U.S. warplanes on Wednesday.

Sami Abu-Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said on Friday that "Hamas did not issue any statement in this regard."

He also said that Hamas "reiterates its supportive position to all liberation movements and foremost the Iraqi liberation movement, for which Zarqawi was one of the symbols in the face of the American occupation."

Hamas, an Islamic militant group, took over the Palestinian government in
March after winning elections.

It is formally committed to destroying the Jewish state, but has said it could
follow a long term truce if Israel withdraws from the occupied West Bank and
Arab East Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 war, following a pullout from the
Gaza Strip last year.

Hamas, branded a terrorist organization by the United States and Europe, has
in the past distanced itself from violence blamed on al-Qaeda, though it has
used similar suicide tactics during a Palestinian uprising.

The Hamas government has been under a world financial boycott that has
crippled the Palestinian Authority economically in a bid to pressure it to
recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept past accords.