Abu Zuhri: American conditions for dialog with Hamas blackmail

DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, the Hamas spokesman, has criticized American secretary of state Hillary Clinton for imposing conditions in order to open dialog with his Movement. He expressed regret in a statement to Quds Press on Friday that the new American administration was reiterating conditions of the old administration such as recognizing Israel, commitment to previous agreements between the PA and Israel and shunning "violence", the Zio-American term for resistance. Abu Zuhri noted that the American and Israeli positions are identical, a thing, which he described as a bad omen. "We, in Hamas, affirm our rejection of Clinton's conditions, which were previously reiterated by the international quartet committee," he elaborated. The spokesman said that the American position was different from the western stands in general, pointing to the meetings held between Hamas and European MPs and political leaderships. He underlined that Hamas has no problem with the West and is ready for talks but without linking such talks to recognizing Israel and surrendering rights. Abu Zuhri charged that the timing of Clinton's statement was meant to disrupt any attempt to salvage the inter-Palestinian dialog in Cairo, adding that Washington was interested in impeding this dialog. The ball is now in the court of the other party (Fatah faction) that should refuse such conditions and find out means of achieving Palestinian unity away from Israeli and American dictates, he underlined. Shifting to other issues, the Hamas spokesman said that there was nothing new in the issues of calm or the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, holding the Israeli occupation authority responsible for the delay in concluding deals in both cases.