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Last update - 02:20 09/09/2007
Hamas' Meshal: U.S. deepening divisions with peace conference
By News Agencies

Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshal criticized an upcoming U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference Saturday, saying Washington was trying to impose its agenda and widen divisions between the Palestinians.

U.S. President George W. Bush proposed the conference this summer after bloody Palestinian infighting split the Hamas and Fatah movements into two rival governments. His administration sees the bitter internal split as an opportunity to push for a political settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.

"The international conference is a tool to be used by America to impose the U.S. agenda and to embarrass Arabs into taking the side of American policy," Mesaal told the Hezbollah militant group's Al-Manar television.

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Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah plans to attend the conference, but Hamas representatives have not been invited given the group's continued refusal to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist.

"America wants to engage the service of the conference to strengthen the Palestinian division," said Meshal.

The gathering is meant to give a boost of support to Abbas, whose Fatah forces were vanquished last month by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. With international backing, Abbas has formed a new government based in the West Bank, while Hamas has fallen deeper into isolation.

Washington has advertised the conference as a chance for Israelis, Palestinians and some of their Arab neighbors to discuss issues that have blocked restarting peace negotiations and setting up an independent Palestinian state.

U.S. officials said it was unlikely that Syria, a main backer of Hamas, would attend. Arab allies of the United States, however, were quick to welcome the proposal for the conference, which is expected to take place in Washington in November.

Meshal argued that the meeting would lead the Palestinians and Arabs into a tunnel of fruitless negotiations, especially if clear expectations were not established beforehand.

"It is dangerous to deal with the American call or the Israeli call in an international meeting without accurate calculations... as well as the conference's expected results, said Meshal."

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayad asked the U.S. government on Saturday to be painstaking in its preparations.

"The conference should produce explicit agreement on the establishment of a Palestinian state... and lay down a binding timetable and international guarantees for the completion of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement."

Abbas has been pressing a reluctant Israel to discuss in depth matters at the core of any future agreement on Palestinian statehood - the shape of final borders and the fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

But Olmert is seeking a more broadbrush "declaration of principles" and said on Monday he was not sure the two leaders would be able to reach a deal on statehood principles ahead of the conference, which is expected to take place in the Washington, D.C., area in mid-to-late November.

Mohammad Dahlan, former national security advisor to Abbas, said at a security conference in Geneva on Saturday that the conference is unlikely to succeed due to the lack of concrete commitments from the United States and Israel, a senior Fatah official said on Saturday.

"The prevailing atmosphere is not conducive to a breakthrough at this conference," said Dahlan.

Dahlan said the meeting needed to be based on concrete commitments but that up to now nothing had been presented by the Israelis or the Americans in writing.

"If the autumn meeting is simply to organize another get-together and to repeat activities and just have a photo opportunity, this would be another disaster," he said, speaking through a translator.

"These negotiations must have a grounding and a foundation... Sufficient effort has not been forthcoming to make for a successful meeting," he said.

"I think the U.S and the Israelis think that it will simply be another get-together and an exercise in public relations," Dahlan said.

Dahlan said that any deal should not be derailed by the seizure of power in the Gaza Strip by Fatah's rival party Hamas.

"What happened in Gaza should not be used as an excuse to evade the peace process," he said.

"(Abbas) is the one that has the legal authority to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian people... so he has a free hand in negotiations."
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  1.   Peace conference is a hoax. 14:15  |  Dutch Dirk 08/09/07
  2.   AMR MOUSSA, THE ARAB LEAUGE AND NO PEACE 14:24  |  Brant 08/09/07
  3.   Who, I ask, is going to govern this state? Fayad and Abu Mazzen? 14:27  |  Dafna 08/09/07
  4.   Asking for a "binding timetable" 14:46  |  De 08/09/07
  5.   Clueless 14:53  |  Joseph 08/09/07
  6.   PROBABLY SOME KIDS SHOULD BE KILLED FOR THAT? 15:22  |  indrajaya 08/09/07
  7.   #3 16:03  |  Kris 08/09/07
  8.   Peace of crap 16:07  |  Chaim Gorenstein 08/09/07
  9.   Still waiting for a single Palestinian concession 16:15  |  McQueen 08/09/07
  10.   Who convened this conference? 16:23  |  Alex 08/09/07
  11.   Arab League Still An Enemy 16:29  |  Yosemite 08/09/07
  12.   DUTCH and the actual facts 16:31  |  GZLives 08/09/07
  13.   Indrajaya making it up as usual 16:37  |  GZLives 08/09/07
  14.   The "promised" land. 16:50  |  sandra chitayat 08/09/07
  15.   #1 Dutch Dirk 16:51  |  George Kaplan 08/09/07
  16.   To Dutch Dirk # 1 - Myths and Facts 16:53  |  Dagma 08/09/07
  17.   Peace talks for peace talks 17:15  |  Kim 08/09/07
  18.   Out of topic but I need your help to know better your history. 17:33  |  infidel 08/09/07
  19.   Throw out the evil settlers first 17:41  |  Henrik 08/09/07
  20.   Realistic Expectations 17:49  |  Mark of Lewiston 08/09/07
  21.   Fayeed, you`re right............ 17:50  |  Dave from Chicago 08/09/07
  22.   Which one 17:55  |  mike 08/09/07
  23.   ARGUING WITH "DUTCH DIRK".... 18:01  |  Brant 08/09/07
  24.   #7 - The REAL PARASITE 18:07  |  Double Click 08/09/07
  25.   reply to No 3 18:25  |  Abe 08/09/07
  26.   #8 We`re Coming Home 18:37  |  Wissam 08/09/07
  27.   it`s very simple.... 18:51  |  jake 08/09/07
  28.   #17 Kim from London 19:00  |  George Kaplan 08/09/07
  29.   Kim .. try facts for a change 19:34  |  GZLives 08/09/07
  30.   How one argues with Dutch and the lot 19:39  |  GZLives 08/09/07
  31.   Why is Fayad wasting his breath 19:53  |  Mark Lincoln 08/09/07
  32.   Where is Arafat? 20:52  |  Sammy 08/09/07
  33.   Another standing on their heads - Lincoln 21:05  |  GZLives 08/09/07
  34.   Why MUST it? There is no MUST. 21:41  |  Dagma 08/09/07
  35.   To Henrik # 19 - Sheer Arrogance 22:32  |  Dagma 08/09/07
  36.   Wissam yalah 00:03  |  IDF Soldier 09/09/07
  37.   Dahlan is dead right, Israel must commit to a more sensible plan: 00:03  |  Uzi 09/09/07
  38.   There will never be any separate Arab political entity 00:06  |  Uzi 09/09/07
  39.   The `peace process` is an enormous sham, as in sham-poo. 00:11  |  Uzi 09/09/07
  40.   wrong lack of comittment and ability of pals to follow thru dooms 00:35  |  ralph 09/09/07
  41.   @25, abe aka ibrahim, please use your real name 01:03  |  vladimir 09/09/07
  42.   @26, no wissam you are not coming home 01:05  |  vladimir 09/09/07
  43.   Mark of Lewiston 01:18  |  Lynn 09/09/07
  44.   Curious that some of the far right 02:26  |  Mark Lincoln 09/09/07
  45.   1Dutch Dirk,well said,the problem in a nutshell;one way of 02:29  |  lakshmi 09/09/07
  46.   # 25 ABE? possibly Ibrahim? 03:06  |  Lynn 09/09/07
  47.   Mark Lincoln."Hamas has made it very clear..." 03:30  |  Akiva Patysh 09/09/07
  48.   Mark Lincoln 03:34  |  Akiva Patysh 09/09/07
  49.   Meshal 04:05  |  Lisen 09/09/07
  50.   43 Lynn 04:39  |  Mark of Lewiston 09/09/07
  51.   #23..Brant 04:40  |  Nemesis 09/09/07
  52.   Surprise! Surprise! 06:26  |  steve 09/09/07
  53.   #35 Hello Dagma. Have you ever thought... 07:00  |  Maureen Ann 09/09/07
  54.   Mark of Lewiston 07:41  |  Lynn 09/09/07
  55.   Uzi # 38 07:45  |  Lynn 09/09/07
  56.   Meshal like I wrote before Hamas is finished 07:47  |  Shepherd 09/09/07
  57.   Like Duh! 08:01  |  Mark Lincoln 09/09/07
  58.   meshal is spot on 08:12  |  ravi 09/09/07
  59.   Political theatre 12:04  |  spyguy 09/09/07
  60.   Peace and Security 23:44  |  Rodney Dezarn 09/09/07
  61.   Peace Conference without peace 18:02  |  David Chamberlain 10/09/07
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