Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon said Monday that the Jewish state is holding talks directly with the Palestinian movement Hamas, despite a government decision forbidding such moves.
This is the first time that Israel has officially admitted any direct contact with the militant group that the Jewish state regards as a terrorist organization, local daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on its website.
The talks "are in direct defiance of the government's resolution, according to which Israel would agree to talk to the group only after it accepts the conditions set by the Quartet," Ramon admitted at a meeting of lawmakers from the Kadima party.
The Quartet of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nation has demanded Hamas recognize Israel, renounce violence and ratify past agreements and the road map.
Israel is negotiating a possible ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit with Hamas, apparently with Egypt being the middleman, in a manner, the report said not to breach the "political siege" Israel imposed on Hamas since its violent takeover of the coastal strip in June last year.
Commenting on the stance of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and some other ministers that Shalit's release must be included in the truce deal, Ramon, however, said the two issues should not be linked together, as "a humanitarian one" has nothing to do with "the war on terror."
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
George Bush, John McCain Think Israelis are Appeasing Terrorists
According to Israeli news sources:
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This is an interesting story. It shows that Bush and for that matter McCain, are ready and willing to fight to the last Israeli to sustain their position. I have no sympathy for Hamas in regard to both what it represents and its methods, but to deny that it is a major force today in the region and has to be negotiated with is to deny reality.
One might also remember that it was widely believed that Israeli intelligence played a significant role in the development of Hamas in order to divide the Palestinian opposition and specifically to undermine Fatah and the PLO. In that sense, Hamas may very well be to Israel what the rightwing Muslim groups who the U.S. government created to fight in Afghanistan became to the U.S.
Norman Markowitz
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