[Marxism] The new admin finally says something about Gaza

[Shawn Redden <wsredden@xxxxxxxxx>]

Obama won't deal with Hamas, 'Post' told

Jan. 10, 2009
Jerusalem Post staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

The incoming Obama administration will not abandon US President 
George W. Bush's doctrine of isolating Hamas, the chief national 
security spokesperson of the Obama transition team has told The 
Jerusalem Post.

US President-elect Barack Obama "has repeatedly stated that he 
believes that Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to Israel's 
destruction, and that we should not deal with them until they 
recognize Israel, renounce violence, and abide by past agreements," 
said Brooke Anderson in a statement to the Post.

Those conditions match the international Quartet's longstanding 
demands from Hamas, shared by Israel.

The Obama spokesperson was responding to an article in Britain's 
Guardian daily on Friday, which asserted that three people with 
knowledge of discussions held in the Obama camp said that while the 
president-elect will not approve direct diplomatic negotiations with 
Hamas early on, his advisers are urging him to initiate low-level or 
clandestine approaches, in light of the growing recognition in 
Washington that ostracizing the terror group is counter-productive 
policy.

"The president elect's repeated statements [about not dealing with 
Hamas] are accurate," Anderson said. "This unsourced story is not."

The US state department designated Hamas a terrorist organization, 
and in 2006 Congress passed a law banning US financial aid to the 
group.

"Secret envoys, multilateral six-party talk-like approaches. The 
total isolation of Hamas that we promulgated under Bush is going to 
end," Steve Clemons, the director of the American Strategy Program at 
the New America Foundation, was quoted by the Guardian as saying.

"You could do something through the Europeans. You could invent a 
structure that is multilateral. It is going to be hard for the 
neocons to swallow," he said. "I think it is going to happen."

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