London, England (CNN) -- Something is stirring within the Hamas body politic, a moderating trend that, if nourished and engaged, could transform Palestinian politics and the Arab-Israeli peace process. There are unmistakable signs that the religiously based radical movement has subtly changed its uncompromising posture on Israel.



For example, in the last few months top Hamas officials have publicly stressed that they want to be part of the solution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, not part of the problem. What is happening inside Hamas' mosques and social base shows a concerted effort on the part of its leadership to re-educate its rank and file about co-existence with the Jewish state and in so doing mentally prepare them for a permanent settlement in the future.



In Gazan mosques, pro-Hamas clerics have begun to cite the example of Salah al-Din al-Ayubi, a famed Muslim military commander and statesman, who, after liberating Jerusalem from the Western Crusaders, allowed them to retain a coastal state of their own. The moral lesson of the story is that if the famed leader could tolerate the warring, bloodthirsty Crusaders, then today's Palestinians should be willing to live peacefully with a Jewish state in their midst.



This story is important because it provides Hamas with religious legitimacy and allows it to justify and explain its change of direction to followers. As an Islamic-based movement, Hamas' very raison d'etre rests on religious legitimization, and its leaders understand that they neglect that at their peril.



Hamas' recent narrative marks a pronounced departure from the past in which Hamas moderates called for a minor or long-term truce.



Now Hamas leaders appear to be going further by laying the ground for a shift in their position by educating their social base about the requirements of permanent peace -- recognition of the Jewish state. Although the evolution of Hamas' stance on the peace process has been slow, gradual and qualified, in the last three years many of its leaders repeatedly have said they wanted a two-state solution.



Pressed by an Australian journalist on policy changes that Hamas might make to any new order, Khaled Meshaal, the top Hamas leader and head of its political bureau based in Syria and considered a hard-liner, asserted that the organization has already shifted on several key points: "Hamas already changed -- we accepted the national accords for a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, and we took part in the 2006 Palestinian elections."



Over the years, I have interviewed more than a dozen Hamas leaders inside and outside the Palestinian territories. Although, on the whole, Hamas' public rhetoric calls for the liberation of all historic Palestine, not only the territories occupied in 1967, a healthier debate occurs within.



My recent conversations with Hamas' rank and file suggest that the militant organization has evolved considerably since the group unexpectedly won power in Gaza in free elections in 2006. Before then, Hamas was known for its suicide bombers, not its bureaucrats. But that had to change.



"It is much more difficult to run a government than to oppose and resist Israeli occupation," a senior Hamas leader told me while on official business in Egypt in 2007. "If we do not provide the goods to our people, they'll disown us." Ironically, in spite of the West's refusal to regard this government as legitimate, the democratic demands for governance from within Gaza are themselves driving change within Hamas.



What is striking about Hamas' recent shift of opinion toward the peace process is that it has come at a trying time for the Islamist organization which, in the last two years, has faced critical challenges from al Qaeda-like jihadist groups, a low-intensity civil war with rival Fatah, the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority, and a deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.



Last summer a militant group called Jund Ansar Allah, or the Warriors of God, one of a handful of radical al Qaeda-inspired factions, declared the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in Gaza, a flagrant rejection of Hamas' authority. Hamas security forces struck instantly and mercilessly at the Warriors, killing
Which groups are they fighting? What are the pro-Hamas clerics doing? Who is Hamas fighting now? What are pro-Hamas clerics preparing people for ? What are there sign of ?
al Qaeda-like jihadist begun to cite the example of Salah al-Din al-Ayubi, Jund Ansar Allah, a permanent settlement in the future. the religiously based radical movement has subtly changed its uncompromising posture on Israel.
question: Which groups are they fighting?, answer: al Qaeda-like jihadist | question: What are the pro-Hamas clerics doing?, answer: begun to cite the example of Salah al-Din al-Ayubi, | question: Who is Hamas fighting now?, answer: Jund Ansar Allah, | question: What are pro-Hamas clerics preparing people for ?, answer: a permanent settlement in the future. | question: What are there sign of ?, answer: the religiously based radical movement has subtly changed its uncompromising posture on Israel.