Robert Dreyfuss: "Several top Obama officials are proponents of detente with Hamas and Hezbollah"

[Better Believe It]

- The report by Robert Dreyfuss is very good news -

Talking to Hamas | Does Obama have the courage to accept a Palestinian unity government?
by Robert Dreyfuss
The Nation
April 23, 2009

Given that the new Israeli government is an inflexible bunch of hardliners, the best area for the Obama administration to make progress in the Israel-Palestine conflict is for the United States to either encourage or accede to the creation of a Palestinian unity government.

Such a government would include both Fatah and Hamas. Both Egypt and Saudi Arabia have tried in the past to secure a Fatah-Hamas accord. Under President Bush, the United States said it would not deal with any government that includes Hamas. In 2007, President Bush sabotaged a nascent Fatah-Hamas deal brokered by Saudi Arabia. So the question is: is the Obama administration showing any willingness to finesse the ban on Hamas?

For the Israelis, and the Israel lobby, any US-Hamas detente crosses a red line.

Several top Obama officials are proponents of a detente with Hamas and Hezbollah, including John Brennan, the deputy national security adviser. Dan Shapiro, the senior director for the Middle East at the NSC, is said to be open to the idea. Will Obama have the courage to do what's necessary? A good first step: the president should say, in public, that he'd welcome efforts by US allies in the Arab world, to broker an accord between Hamas and Fatah.

Please read the entire article at:

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/429915/talking_to_hamas?rel=hpbox


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Hamas chief hails Obama approach
BBC News
22 March 2009

The political leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, has credited US President Barack Obama with using a "new language" for the Middle East. Speaking to an Italian newspaper Mr Meshaal also said that an official opening to his Palestinian Islamist movement was only "a matter of time".

Mr Meshaal, speaking in an interview with La Repubblica, said "a new language towards the region is coming from President Obama". "The challenge for everybody is for this to be the prelude for a genuine change in US and European policies," Mr Meshaal said.

"The great powers need us to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict," Mr Meshaal told La Repubblica.

"Our weight in resolving the Palestinian question stems from our roots in society, in the people who have voted for us and who will do so again."

Please read the complete article at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7958037.stm


Khaled Meshaal said the great powers needed Hamas