Straw answered that an organization was put on the list on the basis of specific criteria, and added that such an organization's participation in an election would not stop it from being a terrorist organization. Straw made it clear that Hamas would remain on the British list of terrorist organizations until it renounced its policy of violence and its charter calling for the destruction of Israel

Hassan Yussuf, a senior Hamas terrorist in the West Bank, rejected Straw's demands and noted that they “were unjust and unbalanced, because he was only looking at the actions of the resistance [sic] and not at the killing and destruction of the Israeli occupation” ( Agence France-Presse , June 8, 2005). He was also quoted as saying, “We will not drop our moral, religious and national constants just to have an audience with Straw and the likes of Straw”

Mahmoud al-Zahar, senior Hamas terrorist in the Gaza Strip, said that “in the first place, we have to remember what Britain is. [Its] current leadership is conspiring with the United States to harm Arab and Islamic interests in the area, for instance in Afghanistan and Iraq…Hamas will never change itself or its rhetoric or its strategies. Its position is clear. This is occupied land which must be liberated… We will not be [counted] among those who would give up so much as an inch of Palestine…We think all of Palestine belongs to us”

Mushir Al-Massri, Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip , said that the movement would not give up the option of resistance [i.e., violence] and would not dismantle its military wing . Anything in the media supporting such a view, he said, was baseless

Sayyid Siyyam, a top Hamas official in the Gaza Strip , said that Hamas did not need a good conduct certificate from Straw, and that the movement would not renounce its principles