Hamas won't recognize Israel, but will accept its right to exist?

So Jimmy Carter was in Damascus this weekend on a self-proclaimed 'personal peace mission'. Defying US and Israeli warnings, he met with Khaled Mashaal, the exiled leader of Hamas. One of the things Carter and Mashaal discussed was a possible prisoner exchange with Israel, as well as how to lift a siege imposed by the Jewish state in the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip. Carter, who brokered the 1978 Israeli-Egyptian peace, is trying to secure the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit (who is apparently alive?)

Perhaps more importantly, "Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal says his militant Islamic group will not recognize Israel. But he will accept a Palestinian state on Palestinian territories occupied by Israel." -The Associated Press

The statement basically amounts to a tacit acceptance of Israel's right to exist alongside a Palestinian state, but without explicit recognition of the Jewish state.

I suppose that's progress. in a really ironic weird way.