Possible Obama envoy backs Hamas outreach

By Ron Kampeas · January 7, 2009

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A foreign policy expert touted as President-elect Barack Obama's Middle East peace envoy advocates low-level outreach to Hamas under cease-fire conditions.

Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, outlines options for Obama in an article published Wednesday on the Web site of Foreign Affairs, the council's magazine, but apparently written before the current Gaza Strip war.

"If the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas continues to hold and a Hamas-P.A. reconciliation emerges, the Obama administration should deal with the joint Palestinian leadership and authorize low-level contact between U.S. officials and Hamas in Gaza," he writes in the article co-written by Martin Indyk, a Clinton administration peace envoy.

That's a sharp reversal of Bush administration policy. For the short period in 2006 Hamas was allied with the relatively moderate Palestinian Authority leadership, U.S. officials tended to abjure meetings even with P.A. moderates. U.S. policy has been to have nothing to do with Hamas until it recognizes Israel and forswears terrorism.

"If the cease-fire breaks down irreparably and the Israeli army re-enters Gaza, the United States should then work with others to create and insert an Arab-led international force to restore P.A. control and bring about Israel's withdrawal," the authors write.

Hamas ended the cease-fire in the days before it lapsed on Dec. 19. Israel launched major air operations eight days later and a ground operation on Jan. 3.

Numerous media outlets have said Obama is considering Haass, a veteran of senior policy positions in both Bush administrations, as a Middle East peace envoy.

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Alex Khazanovich

01/07/09 10:33 PM

Extremely regrettale to see that even in this early post-election period the coming administration is already changing course on not dealing with terrorists. Let this be a lesson to all who voted for Obama while professing their support of Israel and its right to live in peace.

Terrance Norris

01/08/09 08:25 PM

Mr. Haass, you don’t have a damn dog in this fight yet. Keep your limp bullcrap to yourself until you have the real wherewithal to open your yap. You and your ilk reach -out to a vicious terrorist organization is a foolish naive attempt at limp liberal grandstanding. You are not going to get in bed with the devil and just get away with sleep!(And low-level is right , it is a LOW level of a thing to advocate!).IN My Opinion.

Terrance Norris

01/08/09 08:33 PM

Alex K. , You see now what the American voters get when a new face comes along and whispers sweet nothings into their ears. Most of the voters can’t or don’t read or follow world news events, they just do what they are told to do on election day. They are soon to get what they so richly deserve, and they deserve to get it good and hard. I believe it is the purpose of Mr. Obama and the democrat party to prolong the difficulty of The American economy as long as they can, in order to preserve the limp grip on power they now have. In My Opinion.

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