Obama Adminstration To Open Channels With Hamas?

Excerpt from the January 8, 2009, edition of the Guardian, with thanks to Steve, who emailed me the link:

The incoming Obama administration is prepared to abandon President Bush's doctrine of isolating Hamas by establishing a channel to the Islamist organisation, sources close to the transition team say.

The move to open contacts with Hamas - which could be initiated through the US intelligence services - would represent a definitive break with the Bush presidency's ostracising of the group.

[...]

There is no talk of Obama approving direct diplomatic negotiations with Hamas early on in his administration, but he is being urged by advisers to initiate low-level or clandestine approaches, and there is growing recognition in Washington that the policy of ostracising Hamas is counter-productive.

[...]

There are a number of options that would avoid a politically toxic scenario for Obama of seeming to give legitimacy to Hamas....

Read the rest HERE.

Isn't the Hamas Charter clear about its mission?

Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors.

Article Thirteen: Peaceful Solutions, [Peace] Initiatives and International Conferences

[Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion....

Read the entire Charter of Hamas HERE. Any room for negotiation there?

Joe Biden's prediction of a testing of the incoming administration is coming to fruition, albeit on an accelerated schedule. The honeymoon is over even before it's even begun (with thanks to Brooke, who provided me the link for the following graphic):