RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Hamas's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal vowed Friday that his organisation would continue to resist Israel and would not compromise its claims to all of historical Palestine.

Speaking from Damascus by telephone, Meshaal addressed thousands of Hamas supporters who had gathered in the West Bank city of Ramallah to mark the third anniversary of the deaths of former Hamas leaders Abdel Aziz Rantissi and Ahmed Yassin, who were killed by Israel within weeks of each other in 2004.

"Hamas will not back down. We will not give up on a single metre of our homeland," Meshaal said to thunderous applause.

"We will and we must continue in the path of resistance," he added...