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World Jewish News
Meshal prods Obama: Drop preconditions for dialogue with Hamas
11.06.2009
Though Hamas is encouraged by the new tone emanating from Washington, it is urging the Obama administration to drop preconditions for engaging the Islamist organization in dialogue.
"Obama says he will turn a new page in the region and begin a dialogue with the Iranians and with the Syrians unconditionally," Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshal told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat. "If so, why is he placing conditions on Hamas?"
Meshal told the newspaper that Obama's "concept of a Palestinian state remains vague given that he did not specifically mention the issue of territory, borders, the capital, the right of return, and a time table for the state's establishment."
"These are essential points," Meshal told Asharq al-Awsat.
The Hamas leader in exile, who maintains offices in Damascus, said he was encouraged by "new, wise language" from the American president, "but the test is not in the language, but it will be in how the decisions are translated on the ground."
Meshal, who was poisoned during an assassination attempt by Israeli intelligence in Amman and later saved due to the intervention of Jordan's late monarch, King Hussein, said the Islamist group is facing adversity.
"We have come to a difficult period," Meshal told the newspaper. "This is not an easy time. Our rights have been violated. We will present our vision."
The pan-Arab daily Al Quds al-Arabi reported on Tuesday that Meshal plans to present his own policy speech after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lays out his long-awaited diplomatic vision with an address at Ramat Gan's Bar-Ilan University.
Источник: Haaretz
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