Palestine Interview: Hamas' Khaled Meshaal on the "Resistance Bloc" and the New Middle East (Narwani)

Earlier this month, Sharmine Narwani interviewed Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus for the Huffington Post. In Part 1 of the interview, he addressed the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Hamas' perspective on the direct talks. Here he speaks about broader regional issues, including the emergence of a "Resistance Bloc", the New Middle East, and relations with Iran, the Ground Zero mosque, and, on a more personal note, his relationship with his father:

SN: The "Resistance Bloc" in the Middle East - Syria, Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas - how did it come about?

KM: The forming of this bloc is a natural consequence of events in the region - firstly, the presence of Israel and its atrocities against the region, and then the failure of the negotiation process to achieve something substantial. Even when the Arabs compromised and agreed to the borders of 1967, they did not receive a serious response from Israel. Thus, we have this stalemated situation where Israel has a free hand to do whatever it wants - with the world community turning a blind eye - which leads to the response in the street and to the forming of the bloc you have mentioned.

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Israel-Palestine Memories: Prime Minister Olmert's 2008 Offer and the Palestinian Response

On Sunday, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that if the current Israel-Palestine talks are to succeed, the agreement would have to resemble the plan the Palestinians turned down two years ago in negotiations.

Israel offered the Palestinians close to 94 percent of the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine and holy sites governed jointly by Israel, the Palestinians, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the US. In addition, less than 20,000 refugees would have returned Israel and 100,000 Palestinians would be given US citizenship.

Olmert blamed the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas for no resolution: "There is no choice but to say that this agreement was not achieved when that was possible because the Palestinian side was not prepared to make the extra step that I believe we made."

The Palestinians have a different recollection. In March 2010, their top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told an audience at the University of Birmingham that a counter-proposal had been offered to Olmert and nothing had been received in return.

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Palestine: Life in Hamas's Gaza (Prothero)

If the humiliation of chronic unemployment, or being paid to not work, isn’t enough, with a widespread travel ban on Palestinians except in rare medical cases requiring Israeli help, no one ever gets to leave this tiny patch of sand along the sea. And with meager wages supplemented by humanitarian rations, people aren’t starving. Instead they seem to be losing any sense of hope and increasingly, according to social workers, smugglers and even the police, turning in massive numbers to cheap narcotic tablets smuggled through tunnels from Egypt. A sense of lethargy and hopelessness now pervades almost every aspect of life here.

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Israel-Palestine Analysis: How Long Can Ramallah Demand a Freeze on Settlements?

At the end of the second round of direct Israel-Palestine talks, we have been bombarded with statements from various actors.

Beyond the rather anodyne declarations is this looming date: on 26 September, Israel's 10-month moratorium on construction in the West Bank expires.

It is unlikely, however, that Damocles' sword will be held over West Jerusalem. Instead, as we pass 26 September without resolution, the Palestinians are likely to face this choice: compromise on the settlements or be labelled as "rejectionists", if not by Obama's representatives then by the Israelis with whom they are supposed to find an agreement.

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Israel-Palestine: Time to Move Beyond a US-Centred Approach (Freeman)

On 1 September, Charles Freeman --- former State Department and Defense Department official, US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and nominee in 2009 to head the National Intelligence Council --- delivered this speech to the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs....

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