Meshal: Upcoming Middle East conference is doomed to fail - Haaretz

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Tue., August 28, 2007 Elul 14, 5767

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		Damascus-based Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal: The upcoming Middle East summit is doomed to failure. (Reuters Archives)

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Last update - 19:02 27/08/2007

Meshal: Upcoming Middle East conference is doomed to fail

By Reuters

DAMASCUS - The U.S.-sponsored international conference on Israeli-Palestinian peace is doomed to fail because it will serve only Israel's interests, Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal said in a CNN interview broadcast on Monday.

Calling the gathering, expected in November, "a meeting controlled and directed by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice", Meshal, who lives in Damascus, said neither Israel nor the United States was serious about achieving peace.

"There is no doubt that the outcome will be leaning towards Israel's best interest because [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert is the stronger side in the negotiations," Meshal said, according to CNN's translation of his comments in Arabic.

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"All these reasons are going to lead to a failure," said Meshal, who was injected with poison by Israeli agents in Jordan in 1997 but was saved by an antidote sent from Israel after his attackers were overpowered and arrested.

"The American administration is fighting Hamas and working on isolating it," Meshal said in the interview, which CNN reported was held in a heavily guarded Hamas safe house in the Syrian capital.

But Meshal said Washington, which supports Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, would eventually realize it would have to deal with Hamas for the sake of Israeli-Palestinian peace.

"I only want to tell them to take a short cut and not waste their efforts," he said, while acknowledging that a U.S. invitation to Hamas to attend the upcoming conference was unlikely.

Meshal called on the international community to deal with "the reality of the Palestinian arena" - an apparent reference to Hamas's strong influence - and move the Middle East closer to "genuine peace" in which "the waterfall of blood will stop."

Regarding abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, Meshal said Hamas was treating him humanely.

"We did not blackmail Israel, and we gave free information to Gilad Shalit's father and his family that Gilad Shalit is still alive," Meshal was quoted by CNN as saying. "When he asked us to bring him a medical glasses for his sight, we did so as humanitarian duty. We treat Gilad Shalit in a humanitarian way that is in line with the Palestinians' morals."

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1.	He`s Screaming "I`mRelevant! Really I Am!"	18:06	\|	dyinglikeflies	27/08/07

2.	Meshal Speaks......	18:13	\|	Dagma	27/08/07

3.	End of Bloodshed	18:56	\|	Ibn-Chulnik	27/08/07

4.	Mishal always talks to the point,and the conference will be a	18:57	\|	lakshmi	27/08/07

5.	My sentiments exactly	18:57	\|	Natallie Durson	27/08/07

6.	Syria, not Washington is key to Palestine peace.	19:21	\|	David Turner	27/08/07

7.	Of Course, Meshal is right....	19:24	\|	Dutch	27/08/07

8.	Hamas`s despair	19:31	\|	ScotGuy	27/08/07

9.	Talk about the pot calling the kettle black	19:47	\|	Mark	27/08/07

10.	#3..Natallie Durson	19:50	\|	Nemesis	27/08/07

11.	Mashal, you are irrelevant	20:10	\|	Cipora Julianna Kohn	27/08/07

12.	#2 lakshmi	20:13	\|	Sol	27/08/07

13.	Reuters ..............Second Attempt	20:13	\|	Chick	27/08/07

14.	#3, "they are much less prone to spin"	20:13	\|	Cipora Julianna Kohn	27/08/07

15.	Meshal	20:15	\|	Abu yusuf	27/08/07

16.	Khaled Meshal, the prophet of doom.	20:16	\|	Akiva Patysh	27/08/07

17.	to ScotGuy	20:20	\|	Sol	27/08/07

18.	Another lopsided conference due to fail...	21:01	\|	Dutch	27/08/07

19.	Meshal, Hamas/morality?!?, what a joke!	21:20	\|	Akiva Patysh	27/08/07

20.	Kidnapping,a Palestinian Act of Humanitarianism	21:59	\|	Moshe	27/08/07

21.	Despicable Meshal!!	22:02	\|	Lynn	27/08/07

22.	#3	22:06	\|	Moshe	27/08/07

23.	Thank you again, Hashemite usurpers	22:09	\|	Chick	27/08/07

24.	Meshal will exert every effort to assure	23:33	\|	* BEN JABO	27/08/07

25.	I hate to say it but Meshal is right.	00:34	\|	Robert	28/08/07

26.	FORGET ABBAS	01:23	\|	indrajaya	28/08/07

27.	# 18, Yep, Mohamed, instead of talking with bastards...	01:36	\|	Misha	28/08/07

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