THE PROXY:

Hamas ready for talks with rival (BBC, 10/10/07)

The Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas, has said it has agreed to hold reconciliation talks with the rival Fatah group of President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya suggested it might be willing to relinquish control of Gaza, which it seized from Fatah in June, in a statement on its website.

Mr Haniya said his group's control of the coastal territory was "temporary". [...]

"Any future Palestinian state should include all occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza," [Ahmed Yousef] added. "This is going to be the future Palestinian state, so there is no intention for anybody to have a state in Gaza."

Mr. Abbas is the medium through which Israel will create a Hamas-led unified Palestine.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 10, 2007 8:18 PM