Ramallah, West Bank, Dec 3, SPA -- In an apparent change inlong-standing policy, a top Hamas leader said Friday the group would accept the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as a long-term truce with Israel. "Hamas has announced that it accepts a Palestinianindependent state within the 1967 borders with a long-termtruce," Sheikh Hassan Yousef, the top Hamas leader in theWest Bank, told The Associated Press, referring to landsIsrael captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Yousef said the Hamas position was new and called it a"stage." "For us a truce means that two warring parties live sideby side in peace and security for a certain period and thisperiod is eligible for renewal," Yousef said. "That meansHamas accepts that the other party will live in securityand peace."--SPA1508 Local Time 1208 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/221627