Oom Ambon,
mana berita penyerangan Israel ke konvoy bantuan kemanusiaan untuk Gaza?
Turut berduka cita untuk seluruh korban.
:-((
----- Original Message -----
From: sunny
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2010 2:29 AM
Subject: [wanita-muslimah] The US talks to us, claims leader of Hamas movement
http://www.smh.com.au/world/the-us-talks-to-us-claims-leader-of-hamas-movement-20100531-wrh8.html
The US talks to us, claims leader of Hamas movement
DAVID HEARST
June 1, 2010
DAMASCUS: The United States is sending a succession of envoys to engage with
Hamas but lacks the bravery to talk to the Islamist movement openly, its
leader, Khaled Meshal, says.
Mr Meshal praised the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, for meeting him in
Damascus and the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, for hosting the discussion
10 days ago.
He told Mr Medvedev that the US was also talking to him.
''I . told him the Americans contact us, but are not brave enough to do so
openly. I am confident that in the very near future, everyone will realise that
they will have to deal with Hamas.''
The claim that the US is engaging with a group it lists as a terrorist
organisation will upset the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, whose forces
have locked up and allegedly tortured Hamas members.
But four years into Israel's blockade of Gaza, the revelation could be seen
as a sign that cracks are opening in the western consensus that Hamas should
remain isolated.
Russia is a member of the Middle East Quartet, which demands recognition of
Israel as a precondition to a seat at the negotiating table.
Hamas says that recognising Israel was one of Fatah's biggest mistakes and
resulted in 17 years of fruitless negotiation.
Mr Meshal said the tectonic plates in the Middle East were shifting. Iran,
Turkey and Syria were emerging as regional powers and Egypt was in the throes
of a battle for succession that would paralyse it as a regional player. As a
result, Israel was losing its power to impose conditions on a weakened
Palestinian leadership in Ramallah.
As it felt its power ebbing, Israel needed a war but was crippled by
self-doubt. Mr Meshal claimed the attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006 and
against Hamas in Gaza in 2009 had strengthened both organisations.
''Israel is conducting exercises threatening Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria. It
needs a war, but choosing the front to fight on will not be a picnic and this
reflects the crisis in Israel. It does not want peace, but the option of war is
not easy for it,'' he said.
''A war in Gaza might appear the easy option. But that would be an illusion,
not because we have adequate weapons, but because Israel this time would be
fighting against a people with nothing to lose. Gaza is small in size but it
has become a large symbol for the rest of the world.''
The US President, Barack Obama, had made a brave speech in Cairo but within
months had retreated and his officials had vetoed efforts to seek agreement
between Fatah and Hamas on a unity government.
Citing Fatah sources, he claimed George Mitchell, the US negotiator, had told
the Palestinian Authority and Egypt that the US would cut off aid to the
authority if it formed a unity government with Hamas and other militant
Palestinian factions.
''Mahmoud Abbas is better for America's purpose without [Palestinian]
reconciliation, because he is weak and a deal with Hamas would strengthen the
Palestinian position in the negotiation.
''America prefers a weak Palestinian negotiating party, because it believes
this is the best chance for a deal with an intransigent [Israeli Prime
Minister, Benjamin] Netanyahu.''
Hamas claims that nine or 10 of the 22 members of the Arab League back its
formula for a unity government, not least Saudi Arabia, a country still thought
to be furious with Hamas about its takeover of Gaza in 2007, which tore up an
agreement with Fatah.
Mr Meshal said that before the last Arab League summit in Libya, the Saudi
Foreign Minister, Saud al-Faisal, had taken a Hamas document to Egypt that
called for the creation of a Palestinian leadership representative of all
factions, a high security council to reform Gaza security forces and a
committee to organise elections. Palestinians outside the occupied territories
could also vote.
The Egyptians came back with three additions: that the new government
recognise a two-state solution, the borders of 1967 and the Arab Peace
Initiative. Mr Meshal said these demands were tantamount to a recognition of
Israel.
''What Mahmoud Abbas is seeking is to restore his authority over Gaza and to
draw Hamas into an electoral process in conditions in which it would lose.
Egypt's position is a real obstacle, too.''
Guardian News & Media
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