[lbo-talk] Hamas says met Obama advisors in Gaza

[Bryan Atinsky]

Question will be how does Obama's team react to the statements, ending the
status quo of only communicating through deniable backchannels is likely
part of what Yousef and Hamas are looking for. Perhaps to test the waters,
see if they will deny it, or if there will be some practical difference
between them and the previous (current) administration.

Also, may be tied to the meeting that Haniyah just had with the EU
Parliament members that came to Gaza a few days ago. They are trying to put
on a front of ruling legitimacy as part of their contesting Abbas' attempt
to extend his term, which is to end in January.

Just guesses...

Bryan

 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-
> talk.org] On Behalf Of SA
> Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 14:30
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Hamas says met Obama advisors in Gaza
> 
> Bryan Atinsky wrote:
> 
> > Ismail Haniyeh's political advisor says Islamist group met with US
> > president-elect's aides in Strip following online correspondence;
> 'they told
> > us not to come out with any statements so as not to harm Obama's
> campaign,'
> >
> 
> This doesn't surprise me. Unless you're a total ideologue like Elliot
> Abrams, you at least want to have lines of communication open. I'm sure
> the Bush admin had some deniable backchannels too. What I don't get is
> why Yousuf is saying this publicly. He's savvy and knowledgeable about
> Western politics. Surely he knows that this doesn't look good in
> domestic US politics. I wonder what he's doing?
> 
> SA