Hamas says accepts Palestinian statehood

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Hamas accepts the establishment of a Palestinian state on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war but would not recognize the Jewish state, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said on Monday.

"We accept a state on the June 4 line with Jerusalem as capital, real sovereignty and full right of return for refugees but without recognizing Israel," Meshaal told reporters, referring to the borders as they stood before the 1967 war.

Commenting on efforts by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to persuade Hamas to back peace talks between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel, Meshaal said his Islamist group would "respect Palestinian national will even if it was against our convictions".

But Meshaal said it was impractical to hold a referendum on peace as long as Palestinian national institutions were not functioning due to the schism between Hamas and the rival Fatah faction led by Abbas.

His remarks were in line with comments made by Carter in Jerusalem following his talks with the Hamas leader on Friday.

Meshaal said Hamas had informed Carter it could not declare a unilateral ceasefire with Israel, as the former U.S. president had requested in meetings in the Syrian capital, because similar moves in the past had failed to stop what Hamas describes as Israeli aggression.

Carter said Meshaal told him Hamas would accept a peace deal creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel if it was approved by Palestinians in a referendum.

"They said they would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders ... and that they would accept the right of Israel to live as a neighbor next door in peace", provided Palestinians passed such a deal in a referendum, Carter said.

(Editing by Catherine Evans)