U.S. Senator John Kerry makes rare visit to Hamas-ruled Gaza

[oberliner]

United States Senator John Kerry visited the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Thursday as part of a rare trip by American politicians to the area.

The former Democratic presidential nominee said he was in Gaza to see the aftermath of Israel's military offensive there last month. He did not meet with anyone from Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group.

Kerry said his visit did not signal any change in American Mideast policy. He told residents that Hamas must take moves toward peace and halt its rocket attacks on southern Israel.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1065499.html

[blm]

1. Story is now BIGGER....reported by BBC: Hamas 'sends Barack Obama letter'

BBC: Hamas 'sends Barack Obama letter'


The Palestinian group Hamas has sent a letter addressed to the US president via a US politician visiting Gaza, a senior UN official has said.

UN relief agency chief Karen Abu Zayd told the BBC the letter had been received by the UN and passed on.

She did not say if Senator John Kerry had accepted it, and there were no details about the letter's contents.

The US views Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, as a terrorist organisation and will not deal with it.

A former presidential candidate, Mr Kerry was visiting Gaza with US congressmen Brian Baird and Keith Ellison in the first such visit to the Hamas-run Strip since 2007.

The men are not likely to meet Hamas.
>>>>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7898801.stm


CNN just reported Kerry ACCEPTED the letter and is passing it on to Obama.

[Jefferson23]

3. VERY interesting, thanks for the post.

[thereismore]

2. He did not meet with anyone from Hamas... other than most everybody in the street. nt

[bemildred]

4. Hamas ask Kerry to take a note to Obama

Friday, February 20. Hamas leaders have used Senator John Kerry’s visit to the Gaza Strip to try to send a letter to Barack Obama. The UN says Hamas officals delivered a written message that could be passed on to Kerry and eventually to the US President. Asked what was written in the letter, a UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman said: "We are very polite at UNRWA, we don't open other people's mail."

Kerry is visiting the region as head of the Senate foreign relations committee, not as a representative of the Obama administration. He entered Gaza with two Congressmen, Brian Baird and Keith Ellison, yesterday. Their visit was intended to draw attention to the humanitarian situation in the region and the group was not scheduled to meet with Hamas.

However, it is believed to be the first time a senior American politician has visited the war-torn costal enclave since 2005. Along with Israel and the EU, the US regards Hamas as a terrorist organisation and has always refused to enter into dialogue with the Islamist regime.

Speaking earlier this week in the Israeli town of Sderot – a regular target of Qassam rockets fired from within Gaza by Hamas militants – Kerry said: "We feel very deeply that no one should live under this kind of threat, no children should be raised in that kind of fear. We are sympathetic with the crisis that people face on a daily basis here in Israel, from those who choose no other path other than to use instruments of terror."

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/gazacrisis,0,hamas-ask-kerry-to-take-a-note-to-obama,74727?WTmc_id=rss

[bemildred]

5. Hamas denies giving Kerry letter for Obama

GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas denied on Friday it had given U.S. Senator John Kerry a letter for President Barack Obama when the senator visited the Gaza Strip this week.

A spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) had said Hamas left a letter for Obama at a U.N. compound in Gaza where Kerry paid a call on Thursday.

"Hamas denies any such thing had happened. No letter was given to John Kerry," said Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for the Islamist group.

"At the same time we stress that we are open to hold dialogue with any country and our only enemy is the Zionist occupation," Barhoum said.

ttp://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE51J3XS20090220?rpc=401&

[bemildred]

6. US Confirms Receipt of Hamas Letter for Obama

The State Department confirmed Friday U.S. diplomats have received a letter to President Obama from the militant Islamic group Hamas, which controls the Gaza strip. The letter was passed to U.S. Senator John Kerry when he visited Gaza Thursday.

Officials here are not revealing the substance of the letter. But they say it is now in the hands of the U.S. Consulate-General in Jerusalem, which handles U.S. relations with the Palestinian areas, and that the letter or certainly its contents will be communicated to Washington.

A senior State Department official told reporters that Senator Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, received the letter among other documents from U.N. staffers during his tour of Gaza Thursday, which was the highest-level visit by a U.S. political figure since Hamas seized control there in 2007.

He said Kerry, on a visit to assess humanitarian needs in Gaza after the conflict between Israel and Hamas, had no personal contact with any Hamas members himself. He said the White House has been informed of the development.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-02-20-voa42.cfm

Well, it's interesting to me that the Mighty Wurlitzer wants to run with this. There are a lot of stories about this letter now, and how it's from "Hamas", and we're taking it seriously, and so on. I almost think it has to be fake, or misrepresented, or something. What I actually see about the circumstances doesn't fill me with confidence either.

[oberliner]

9. Do you still think it is fake?

Ahmed Yousef, the Hamas deputy foreign minister, said by telephone that it was a two-page document urging the new administration to make a change from the Bush administration.

“There can be no peace without Hamas,” Mr. Yousef said he had written. “We congratulated Mr. Obama on his presidency and reminded him that he should live up to his promise to bring real change to the region. The Palestinian issue is the key to resolving all the problems in the area. We also said that Mr. Kerry’s visit to Gaza showed that the new administration has a clarity of vision and is not controlled by Israeli propaganda.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/world/middleeast/21gaza.html

[bemildred]

10. The story of its provenance seems questionable, something about left somewhere.

Since Mr Yousef claims it, one must allow that he wrote it. On the other hand Hamas does not seem to be of one mind about it, so saying it is a "letter from Hamas" misrepresents the situation, it is a "letter from Mr Yousef". The fakiness lies in the eagerness of the Mighty Wurlitzer to treat is seriously as opposed to denigrating it or ignoring it, as past experience would suggest. So I'm suspiciously curious as to what is up? Or if you prefer, I'm not willing to take everything being said about it at face value yet.

[oberliner]

11. Op-Eds by Yousef have been published in the NY Times and Washington Post

It seems that he has been making efforts to try to communicate with the US on behalf of Hamas for some time.

[bemildred]

12. Yes, I noticed that.

One could speculate that he speaks for himself, or that he is an un-official spokesperson. He is clearly a different sort of thing from Mr Haniyeh anyway. It's not that I disapprove of his letter being taken seriously, I just wonder what is up whenever the Mighty Wurlitzer takes off with a story, with high level politicians smack in the middle of it. I tend to view such things as scripted political dramas, and I want to know the plot line. For example, I don't believe for a minute that Kerry got the letter without first being asked if he wanted to get the letter.

[bemildred]

7. US: Letter From Hamas To Obama Received

WASHINGTON (AFP)--Sen. John Kerry was given a letter from Hamas to President Barack Obama during a visit to Gaza City this week, a State Department official said Friday.

"I can confirm that it was from Hamas to President Obama. It was handed to Sen. Kerry who turned it over to the consulate," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said officials are considering the letter and "how it should be treated." Kerry, D-Mass., is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

NASDAQ

[GoesTo11]

8. That letter he received is probably the reason he was sent there

I suspect Obama is attempting to start a dialogue with Hamas but doesn't want it to be public. D'oh!

[bemildred]

13. Hamas asks Obama to deal with Palestinians fairly

---

Yousef said that when Hamas learned of Kerry's visit to Gaza, he swiftly penned the letter.

"We tried to seize the opportunity, and that led us to quickly write a letter to President Obama, to be passed to his hands," Yousef told The Associated Press.

He spoke a day after Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum denied that Hamas sent the letter. However, Yousef said Saturday that the letter was endorsed by the Hamas government.

---

"We also spoke about the need for the U.S. administration to be open with Hamas, which enjoys broad support in the Palestinian street," he said.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1065840.html

[bemildred]

14. U.S. Officials Outraged at U.N. Over Hamas Letter to Obama

This is a little disorienting (Fox News), but interesting; especially when considered with all the other stories on the subject of this letter.

U.S. officials are furious with the United Nations for its role in Hamas' attempt to enlist U.S. Sen John Kerry to transfer a letter from the Palestinian militant group to President Obama during Kerry's trip to the Middle East, an official source told FOX News.

The incident also has raised security concerns over how much Hamas knew about Kerry's travel plans.

Kerry turned the letter over to the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem on Friday, saying he was unaware that it was from Hamas until hearing about the letter in media reports, including on the BBC. He told FOX News on Saturday that he will not be visiting Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal during his trip to Syria on Saturday. He is scheduled to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

U.S. officials in Jerusalem are outraged at the United Nations Relief and Works agency for apparently handing the letter off to Kerry.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/21/hamas-face-political-fallout-letter-obama/

[bemildred]

15. Hamas' Letter To Obama Still In Jerusalem - White House

WASHINGTON (AFP)--A letter to President Barack Obama, reportedly from a top member of Hamas, is yet to be brought to the U.S. and is in the hands of U.S. diplomats in Jerusalem, the White House said Monday.

The letter was passed to Democratic Senator John Kerry by a U.N. official in Gaza who didn't tell him it was from Hamas, the veteran lawmaker's office said last week.

Kerry in turn, passed the letter, which the New York Times reported was from Hamas Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmed Yousef, to the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, where it remains.

"As I understand it, some letter was passed - conflicting reports from whom - to Senator Kerry, and that letter is with the consulate in Jerusalem," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

NASDAQ

[excess_3]

16. these...VietNam-era type charades,

gets us exactly what?