Hamas' honeymoon with Obama is over

[limeylily]

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28798994/
updated 5:59 p.m. ET Jan. 22, 2009
DAMASCUS, Syria - President Barack Obama's position toward the Palestinians does not represent change and will lead to the same mistakes as his predecessor, a Hamas spokesman said Thursday.

The comments by Beirut-based Osama Hamdan follow Obama's first public comments on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis since his inauguration.

Hamdan tells Al-Jazeera television he expects Obama to experience failure in the region over the next four years if he sticks with his current position.

Obama said Thursday that Hamas must end rocket fire at Israel and Israel must "complete the withdrawal of its forces from Gaza." Although those steps were taken this week, low-level violence has marred the fragile cease-fire that ended Israel's three week offensive in Gaza.

It's curious how the leaders (and spokesmen) of these Hamas "freedom fighters" all appear to be miles away from Gaza and the actual fighting when they make their heroic pronouncements. This one waffles on from Beirut while another Hamas leader issued ultimatums to Israel from Syria.

[limeylily]

So it appears the Hamas leadership, from the safety of other Islamic states, are prepared to continue their war on Israeli civilians, and are prepared to fight to the last Palestinian civilian to achieve their aim of an all-Islamic Middle East.

[puffin]

Hardliners in both Palestine and Israel will not be happy with Obama , or his choice of Mitchell as negotiator.
They will not like anyone who comes in as a mediator with both the objective and the principles to be completely impartial, particularly if that negotiator has a history of hard talking to both sides and the completion of a successful, impartial result.
Hardliners and extremists always prefer people they think are partial to their own side.
Impartial, objective and practical solutions to ending the conflict won't suit them at all.