By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt– Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal spoke in Egypt on Tuesday, giving conditions on which the peace process between Israel and Palestine can succeed after a conference with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.  Meshaal stressed the need for disputes between factions to cease, specifically, the security forces of Fatah need to stop their raids against Hamas in the West Bank. Additionally, immediate action to create and implement a two state solution must be taken.

Exiled Meshaal resides in Damascus in  Syria. Meshaal referred to conflicts on the West Bank,  as the biggest hurdle in the peace process for Israel and Palestine. He cited last week’s violent attacks which killed nine Palestinians, four security officers of President Mahmoud Abbas and one civilian as an example of these conflicts.

Meshaal found the speech that President Obama gave in Cairo last week “encouraging.” However, Meshaal is concerned that these words need to be followed with action in the form of true continued pressure from the United States for an Israeli and Palestinian peace process, or there will not be any progress. Meshaal welcomes Obama’s contact with Hamas as the first American contact since President Carter.

Egypt is also putting the pressure on Hamas and Israel to come up with a viable two- state solution. Particularly, Egypt is putting the pressure on the different Palestinian factions, like Hamas and Fatah, to “bridge divisions” by July 7, so that the Palestinian state could hold elections in 2010.

Meshaal thinks that if the violence between Fatah and Hamas could stop then there would be a real chance for the peace process to succeed. Meshaal expressed his approval of a two- state solution that would use the 1967 borders to delineate the two states. He also expressed Hamas’s willingness to be involved in the peace process.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Hamas: Fatah Raids Disrupting Talks– 10 June 2009

BBC News- Hamas ‘Will Not Obstruct’ 1967 Borders Deal – 10 June 2009

Xinhua- Meshaal in Cairo to Defuse Tension Between Hamas-Fatah– 10 June 2009

Reuters- Raids Hamper Palestinian Reconciliation- Hamas – 9 June 2009

Voice of America- Hamas Leader Meshaal in Egypt for Reconciliation Talks– 9 June 2009