Blair says Hamas must be in peace talks http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=84216§ionid=351020202 Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:32:24 GMT
*Middle East special envoy Tony Blair* *Former British premier Tony Blair says in order to reach peace in the Middle East Hamas members should be included in any peace talks. * *"I do think it is important that we find a way of bringing Hamas into this process, but it can only be done if Hamas is prepared to do it on the right terms,"* the Middle East envoy for the quartet of Mideast peace negotiators told The Times of London on Saturday. In a U-turn in his policy regarding Hamas leaders, he said, *"a basic predisposition is that in a situation like this you talk to everybody,"* The Times wrote on its website. *"Yes, we do need to show through the change we are making on the West Bank that the Palestinian state could be a reality. The trouble is that if you simply try to push Gaza to one side then eventually what happens is the situation becomes so serious that it erupts and you deliver into the hands of the mass the power to erupt at any point in time,"* he added. Asked if he was surprised by the devastating events during the Israel war against Gaza, he said, *"I have been saying for some time that what was needed was a completely different strategy." * However, according to the published interview, he still supports the West's long-standing position that Hamas must first recognize Israel's right to exist before Hamas can be given a seat at the negotiation table. Following the shaky ceasefire after the war in Gaza, and while elements in the international community are attempting to file lawsuits against Israel for committing war crimes, efforts are under way to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The US and the EU supports the Fatah administration of Mahmoud Abbas the West Bank, while democratically elected Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has been ignored in the Mideast peace process to date. +++++++++++ Carter: No peace in ME without Hamas Mon, 26 Jan 2009 http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=83799§ionid=351020202 Former US President Jimmy Carter *Former US President Jimmy Carter says that the Hamas movement can be trusted and Mideast peace would be impossible without its involvement. * In an interview on *NBC's Today show* on Monday, former US President Jimmy Carter said that 'Hamas can be trusted' adding that the movement never deviated from its commitments as per the recent ceasefire agreement with Israel. The former US President said that he has been promised by the organization's leaders in Damascus and Gaza that Hamas would honor agreements between Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas and Israel, as long as they were supported by public referendum. Carter maintained that Israel has a choice between a one-state solution - which is a catastrophe for Israel - and a two-state solution which everyone would support. "Despite the recent lack of progress, I see this as a unique time for hope, not despair. The outlines of a peace agreement are clear and have broad international support," he claimed. Carter noted, "There is a remarkable compatibility among pertinent United Nations resolutions, previous peace agreements reached at Camp David and in Oslo, the publicly declared policy of the United States, the Geneva Accord, key goals of the International Quartet's Roadmap for Peace, and tentative proposals made by all Arab nations for reconciliation with Israel." Carter on Sunday met with President Barack Obama's new US envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell. While Carter is not certain that Obama should speak directly with Hamas, he believes that Mitchell should. "There won't be peace in the Middle East without Hamas involvement," the former US President emphasized. +++++++++++ *Erdogan gets hero's welcome upon his return to Turkey * http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE50T20E20090130?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0 Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan received a hero's welcome on his return to Istanbul on Friday after accusing Israel of *"knowing very well how to kill"* during a heated debate at the World Economic Forum. *Israel to face 'catastrophe' without Palestinian state, says Jimmy Carter* http://www.haaretz.com:80/hasen/spages/1059141.html<http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1059141.html> Former President Jimmy Carter said Monday that Israel will face a "catastrophe" unless it revives the Mideast peace process and establishes an independent Palestinian state. In an interview with The Associated Press, he said Arabs will outnumber Jews in the Holy Land in the foreseeable future. Mahathir blasts Israeli terror http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=118664&d=29&m=1&y=2009 "These Israeli, American and British leaders, including former US President George Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, will be tried in absentia for their war crimes because we cannot get them and we cannot even carry out any punishment that will be handed down to them. *Sourani: 86 Israeli war criminals are now wanted by international courts* www.palestine-info.co.uk Palestinian human rights activist Raji Al-Sourani has disclosed Wednesday that at least 86 Israeli military officers were now wanted by a number western courts for their role in the *HOLOCAUST* in the Gaza Strip. In a forum held in this regard in the Egyptian capital Cairo, Sourani accused the European governments of adopting unfair stand over the Israeli massacres in Gaza Strip, opining that such behavior would bring the world back to the " law of the jungle." *Video: If Americans Knew What Israel Is Doing!* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynWjYHP91gA&feature=related *Video: Israel Doesn't Want You to See (CAUTION: Graphic) *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW1-_JmXQt0&feature=related <http://www.presstv.ir/sections.aspx?sectionid=3510302> Interviews <http://www.presstv.ir/sections.aspx?sectionid=3510302> Israeli ex-soldier shares insight into occupation<http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=84069§ionid=3510302> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Nor can Goodness and Evil be equal. Repel (evil) with what is better; then the enmity between him and you will become as if it were your friend and intimate! 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