Olmert dismisses Hamas leader's comments on Israel

BEIJING, Jan 11 (Reuters) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today shrugged off comments by the exiled leader of the Islamist Palestinian Hamas group, Khaled Meshaal, in which he acknowledged the existence of Israel.

Meshaal, whose Hamas movement leads the Palestinian government, told Reuters in an interview yesterday that Israel is a ''matter of fact'', softening a previous refusal to accept that the Jewish state existed.

Olmert, asked by reporters accompanying him on a visit to China about Meshaal's acceptance of Israel as a state that will endure, said: ''Does that mean we weren't until now? ''Should I be expected to check what he said? Should I be expected to read what he said?'', Olmert added, shrugging as he toured Beijing's Forbidden City.

Meshaal said in the interview in Syria: ''There will remain a state called Israel.'' He also said Hamas would only consider formal recognition of Israel when a Palestinian state has been created.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman responded earlier by saying that Hamas had said in the past it wanted to wipe Israel from the map and there was no indication it had changed its position.

REUTERS SP DS1105