Meshaal is as charismatic as ever, but his language is changing, reports Dina Ezzat The debate is still on. No one can tell whether or not Hamas will eventually say in plain words that it recognises the right of Israel to exist, relinquishes all militant resistance action, and accepts all past agreements signed between Palestinian leaders and Israel. These three demands, set out by the Quartet and Israel as pre-conditions for the resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, in some measure were met when Hamas agreed to be part of a national unity government that accepts these three principles. For Washington and Tel Aviv, however, this is not enough. Both capitals insist that Hamas as a movement must succumb. Speaking at a press conference in Cairo Friday at the conclusion of a two-day visit, Khaled Meshal, Hamas politburo chief, refrained from fiery invective against the US and Israel. He was clear, however, and underlined, that it is the national unity government's position, not that of Hamas itself, that should matter to the international community. The stance of Hamas, as an Islamist resistance movement, should not be questioned either by Israel, an occupying power, or the US, which has been supportive of the occupation. During this press conference and others made during a tour that also included Khartoum and Moscow, Meshal appeared keen to adopt a new language of compromise -- indeed, he reiterated the acceptance by Hamas of the idea of an independent Palestinian state on pre-1967 borders. Nonetheless, Meshal was unequivocal in his message that Hamas would by all means -- including resort to internationally legal resistance to occupation -- protect the interests of Palestinians should Israel fail to meet the Palestinians half-way. A similar sense of new realism -- some suggested pragmatism even -- was echoed in the wake of the meetings that Meshal held in Cairo where he met with Chief of Egyptian Intelligence Omar Suleiman, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. In the words of one Egyptian diplomat, "the Meshal that spoke during these meetings was different from the Meshal of past few months." The diplomat added: "This too applies to the last meeting we had with [Palestinian Prime Minister] Ismail Haniyeh, who has evolved a great deal in his approach of the Palestinian-Israeli struggle." According to this diplomat, neither Haniyeh nor Meshal have changed hearts or decided to abandon the Islamist approach in favour of a secular outlook. "It is just that they decided to realise the facts of regional and international politics and to work with those facts in mind," he said. Apparently, this approach is working well -- at least in several quarters. It is true that Meshal has not yet been granted a publicised meeting with President Hosni Mubarak, but the Hamas leader is now being much better received in the Egyptian capital that has always expressed a great deal of apprehension regarding the "radical" approach of Hamas. Egyptian officials say that it might well be sooner rather than later that Cairo and other like-minded Arab capitals grant Meshal and other Hamas figures, especially Haniyeh, red carpet treatment. In his press conference in Cairo, Meshal told reporters that the new approach, as adopted in the Mecca Accord, is already bearing fruit. "Before the conclusion of the Mecca Accord, we received promises from several European capitals suggesting that if a national unity government is brokered they would take steps to lift the sanctions imposed on our peoples in the wake of the election of Hamas [one year ago]," Meshal said. He added that following the declaration of the Mecca agreement, these same European capitals, that Meshal chose to keep anonymous, called to confirm their commitment. According to Meshal, the fact that the US has chosen to withhold its position on a Palestinian national unity government "is a clear indication that Washington feels it will be isolated in rejecting this government or in asking for the perpetuation of the unfair sanctions imposed on our people," Meshal said. Following talks with Moussa Thursday, Meshal said that despite statements coming out of Washington, and the recent Quartet meeting in Berlin, he still feels "a new sense" has appeared in Western approaches to the Palestinian issue. Meshal called on the American administration "to reconsider its attitude towards the Palestinian people." In every stop of his tour, Meshal called for an immediate end to sanctions imposed on his people. This, he said, would encourage the Palestinian people to support its national unity government and the process towards a fair and just settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Meshal stressed that "the world should not be ruled by the American stick, and the Americans should not try to freeze the entire international community within the framework of US stances." Meshal said that persistent Israeli demands that world capitals keep the embargo going are slowly but surely being shrugged off by governments "who feel that Israel is becoming a burden on their Middle East policies". He added, "the American administration made a mistake, but it can rectify it." Russia on Tuesday told Meshal it will try to influence Western powers into lifting the embargo on the Palestinian people. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Meshal at the start of their talks that Russia fully supported a deal struck between Hamas and Fatah to form a unity government. "We think the participants in Mecca showed wisdom, prudence and responsibility before the Palestinian people," he said. "We strive for the international community to support this process and make it irreversible, including efforts to help lift the blockade." Speaking in Moscow, Meshal praised Russia's support and said his government sought to demonstrate flexibility in all its dealings. "A serious leadership must first of all recognise and act to acheive the desires of its people, but at the same time Hamas, as a serious leadership, is trying to show flexibility and political realism," he said. Israel is already feeling uncomfortable with Russia's stance. Prior to Meshal's visit to the Russian capital, the Israeli government sent extremist Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Libereman to warn Moscow against supporting the Hamas leader. Libereman rejected any possibility of lifting the embargo or recognising a unity government. "Any recognition of this new government is simply encouraging terror; from our point of view, it is encouraging extremists, a weakness on behalf of the free world," he told reporters in Moscow. "I hope that neither the blockade is lifted nor the new government receives the recognition of the Quartet," Libereman added. Meshal has been telling interlocutors that all Hamas leaders are aware that their positive approach towards a national unity government is going to be undermined, if possible, by Israel. "But if Israel decided to play with fire then the Palestinian people would show it that it can react," he said in Cairo. For Meshal, "there is a historic opportunity" to move towards securing legitimate Palestinian rights. "Palestinians and Arabs are in agreement on an agenda of action. This agenda has considerable world support and it is now the role of Arab and Muslim countries to help the Palestinians in widening the scope of this support," Meshal said Friday. And in a rare statement about potential Hamas-Israel negotiations, Meshal said in Moscow Tuesday, "This will create a political climate that could open a political prospect in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict." Meshal is no longer directly rejecting the prospect that Hamas recognise Israel. But he says: "It is the Palestinian people who needs the right to exist and to have their state on the borders of 1967." Accordingly, "Israel must first end its occupation of Palestinian territories and put an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people." Meshal concludes: "When Israel does this, the Palestinian people will clearly define its position."
