Thursday
Jan082009
Breaking News: Obama Administration "Prepared To Talk to Hamas"?
Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 22:01
Suzanne Goldenberg of The Guardian of London reports from Washington:
Goldenberg claims, from three sources "with knowledge of the discussions", that this would not be the direct engagement of which Obama spoke in his campaign until he was slapped down by rival Hillary Clinton. Instead, it would be "low-level" or even covert contacts. Richard Haass, the State Department's director of policy planning in the first years of the Bush Administration and Obama's likely Middle Eastern envoy, is reported to favour this approach.
All this fits with messages from well-placed Washington insiders, up to last summer, that an Obama Administration would deal with Hamas. However, there is a major catch --- unrecognised by Goldenberg --- in her exclusive.
Haass, writing with Martin Indyk (Bill Clinton's point man on Middle Eastern affairs), set out two conditions for contacts with Hamas in an article this week: "if the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continues to hold and a Hamas-PA reconciliation emerges".
That means any talks with Hamas, even at the lowest level, are still to Israel (will it accept a ceasefire which might lead to recognition of its enemy?) and the Palestinian Authority (will it accept talks that might give legitimacy to its rival and its dominant position in Gazan politics?).
The incoming Obama administration is prepared to abandon President Bush's doctrine of isolating Hamas by establishing a channel to the Islamist organisation, sources close to the transition team say.
Goldenberg claims, from three sources "with knowledge of the discussions", that this would not be the direct engagement of which Obama spoke in his campaign until he was slapped down by rival Hillary Clinton. Instead, it would be "low-level" or even covert contacts. Richard Haass, the State Department's director of policy planning in the first years of the Bush Administration and Obama's likely Middle Eastern envoy, is reported to favour this approach.
All this fits with messages from well-placed Washington insiders, up to last summer, that an Obama Administration would deal with Hamas. However, there is a major catch --- unrecognised by Goldenberg --- in her exclusive.
Haass, writing with Martin Indyk (Bill Clinton's point man on Middle Eastern affairs), set out two conditions for contacts with Hamas in an article this week: "if the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continues to hold and a Hamas-PA reconciliation emerges".
That means any talks with Hamas, even at the lowest level, are still to Israel (will it accept a ceasefire which might lead to recognition of its enemy?) and the Palestinian Authority (will it accept talks that might give legitimacy to its rival and its dominant position in Gazan politics?).
Reader Comments