Diplomat: Hamas Willing To Seek "Solution"
(AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)
Russian diplomats in Damascus tell CBS News that Mashaal, seen at left in a 2008 file photo, indicated to a senior envoy from Moscow a "readiness to contribute in reaching a solution to stop the aggression in Gaza."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday that Israel had accepted an Egyptian-French cease-fire plan for the Gaza Strip, but Hamas officials in Syria told CBS News that they could not agree to the plan because it does not guarantee open border crossings or an end to a crippling blockade.
(Click here for the latest on cease-fire negotiations.)
It was the first time Hamas' senior leader had implied a willingness to order a halt to the rocket attacks that Israel points to as the justification for their assault on Gaza.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose country holds unique sway with the Islamic militant group, met Tuesday with Alexander Sultanov, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's special envoy for Middle Eastern Affairs.
Diplomatic sources said it was Sultanov who met Mashaal.
The diplomats, who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks, said, however, that Mashaal also warned he was not prepared to cooperate until Israel agreed to open the border-crossings into the besieged Gaza Strip and halt their own military operations.
(AP Photo/Eric Feferberg)
Sultanov also held a meeting with Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem and to review international and regional endeavors, including the role that could be played by Russia to stop the Israeli aggression and withdraw the military forces from the Strip, according to state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.
Al-Assad and Medvedev spoke on the phone earlier in the week and the Russian leader decided to send his aide for more talks with the Syrians.
The Syrian President, after talks with Sarkozy in Damascus on Tuesday, said a cease-fire was only attainable after Israel stops the "war crimes" and opens the crossing points to allow the flow of medical and other aid to the Palestinians.
Sarkozy was in Damascus Tuesday pressing Syria to convince Hamas to halt rocket fire into Israel.
Syria, along with Iran, is a main backer of Hamas and hosts members of the group's exiled leadership, including Mashaal.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 36 CommentsIsrael has been in violation of International Law and UN Mandates since 1967. Darned Palestinians, anyway!
No one notes that America''s "ally," didn''t contribute as much as a troop of Boy Scouts in Iraq. How much do we send Israel, every year - add the ''forgiveness'' of U.S. "loans?" We don''t send Foreign Aid to the Vatican; why The Jewish State of Israel?
Israel does have a point - "Mommy! Mommy! Billy hit me back; no fair!" ***, those Palestinians!
Israel has a 100:1 kill ratio; who''s the villian? How many U.S. missiles did Israel fire into Gaza - with a high fatality factor? As irritating as Hamas might be, they can''t shoot worth a ***.
Israel was spawned from terrorism; now it''s immoral.
11. Hamas took control with power (executed their own people) and corrupted elections
12. Hamas is attacking Israel before and after they took control
13. Israel never aimed at civilians (some unfortunate individuals past incidents)
14. Arab countries killed the Palestinians in their territories when tried to raise their voices
15. After 8 years of getting attacked by Hamas rockets, Israel decided to protect their civilians
16. Hamas is using the Palestinian civilians as a human shield to protect themselves
17. Hamas is using the Palestinian civilians to create hate when civilians killed by Israel
18. Israel is bombing locations where Hamas fired rockets from
19. Israel is sorry when civilians are getting killed but has the right to protect it''s own civilians
20: Hamas is only one of many Islamic groups around the world, who believes in this:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3369102968312745410
1. Israel is the only democracy in the middle east
2. Israel is now a fact so only a peace agreement can work
3. Palestinian territories where occupied while defending from surrounded Arab countries
4. No Arab county wants the territories as part of them
5. most Arab countries slaughtered the Palestinians in their territories
6. The Palestinian situation is an excuse for Arab countries to divert hate toward Israel
7. Israel had many attempts for peace but was the only one who really wants it
8. Israel dealt with terrorists (Arafat) when showed some willing to negotiate
9. Palestinians never hide the face that a peace will be the 1st step to occupy all Israel
10. Hamas is a terror organization supported by Iran to harm Israel
1. Jewish always lived in Israel that once was their kingdom
2. Jewish where expelled from Israel but some where always there
3. Jewish temples where destroyed and mosques where build on top of it
4. Jewish did not steal Israel from the Palestinian
5. Jewish are back to Israel and rebuild it
6. Jewish are as greedy, nice, good, bad as any other group
7. Due to be hunted, Jewish EDUCATION was a surviving tool
8. Due to EDUCATION Jewish known to be smarter (higher positions) and richer (not greedier...)
9. When economy is bad people tend to blame the powerful and rich groups
10. Racist and anti-semi used depressions to grow hate about Jewish people
I normally use a roto-tiller"
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Me too, but in the Middle East they use explosives - it''s faster. Then you wait for the settlement, and the desert blooms. (it''s all the nitrates)
Posted by jh6379again
I normally use a roto-tiller
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They''ve been seeking a "Final Solution" of their own for a long time. Did anyone catch Mashaal''s dual meaning? Does anyone actually trust him besides Palestinians?
But seriously, by electing Hamas the Palestinians turned terrorist acts of a group into a nation that committed acts of war. Same rocket attacks, different ramifications for them.
We need to get away from our current American terrorist mentality that we will somehow "win" using military tactics and killing people. The Palestinians and other oppressed people have the same right to think this twisted way as the Israeli and American terrorist governments.
The Hamas charter calls for the complete extermination of Israel which is their zeal and ultimate goal.
Hamas is willing to hide behind innocent women, children, infants and anyone or anything else and use them as cannon fodder.
There is no glory in cowardice.
If naivete were a terminal disease liberal dems would have had their collective plug pulled by now.
Yasser Arafat 3 times Publicly Accepted Israel Right to Exist but Israel continued to built 600 more new Jewish Settlements and counting since the last public announcement for a total of over 800 settlements in the West Bank.
Hamas is not stupid!
The longer this takes, the more likely other parties will get involved like the lions of Hezbollah north of the border of occupied Palestine.
The time for victories for the Zionsits has long been OVER. Now is the time for them to PACK AND LEAVE.
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Posted by Waqahi at 09:04 AM : Jan 07, 2009
Hamas doesn''t need to accept any decisions made the UN. Hamas is arecognized entity or representative of any nation state. The UN can decide on a resolution and if they so desire, force implementation through member nation states of the UN. Hamas is irrelevent--- their simply burnt toast in the desert---Finished!
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