Palestinian Prime Minister designate Ismail Haniyeh attends a news conference in Gaza February 25, 2006. -Xinhua/AFP

Palestinian Prime Minister designate Ismail Haniyeh said on Saturday Hamas is "ready to recognise" Israel if it gives the Palestinians their full rights and a state on lands occupied since 1967, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

"If Israel declares that it will give the Palestinian people a state and give them back all their rights, then we are ready to recognise them," Haniyeh told the Washington Post in an interview posted on its web site.

Haniyeh did not say which form the recognition would take.

He also said Hamas was ready to mull over talks with Israel if the Jewish state withdrew from the West Bank and East Jerusalem and recognized the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees who fled in the 1948 war and their descendants.

Haniyeh, 42, was officially appointed on Tuesday by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as prime minister to form a new cabinet within five weeks after Hamas won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections last month.