Hamas sends Obama letter via visiting US senator

Date: 20 / 02 / 2009  Time:  10:16
Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies –

Hamas sent a letter to US President Barack Obama on Thursday via another US politician who was visiting Gaza.

UN Relief and Works Agency chief Karen Abu Zayd told the BBC the letter had been received by the UN and passed on. US Senator John Kerry met with Abu Zayd during his visit.

UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness told Reuters the letter had been left for Kerry at the gate of the UN compound and that he did not know the content. "We don't open other people's mail," Gunness said. Kerry's office had no immediate comment.

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

The three said they would not meet representatives of the de facto government in Gaza, which is run by Hamas. They did visit areas that were devastated by Israel’s three-week offensive on the Gaza Strip in December in January.

Ahmad Yousuf, a former political advisor to de facto Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah, earlier welcomed the visit, saying, “This visit does not have political dimensions but rather purely humanitarian aiming at checking the disastrous facts caused by the Israeli war on Gaza.”

US Senator Kerry visits Gaza

Friday February 20, 2009 00:59 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Associated Press reported Thursday that the former US Democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry, visited Gaza in order to observe the aftermath of the latest Israeli offensive. The Senator did not meet with Hamas officials as the US considers the Hamas a terrorist group.

The AP added that Kerry stated that his visit does not constitute a shift in the American policies in the Middle East, and that he told Gaza residents that Hamas must make a significant step towards peace and must stop the firing of homemade shells into Israel.

Kerry was accompanied in his Gaza tour by an armored United Nations convoy. He visited a school and a Gaza residential neighborhood that were heavily shelled by the Israeli army.

On Thursday morning, two Democratic congressmen visited Gaza and were considered the first congressional delegation that visits Gaza in two years. The two were identified as Democratic congressmen, Brian Baird of Washington, and Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported.

The US consulate in Jerusalem confirmed that congressmen Baird of Washington and Keith Ellison of Minnesota visited Gaza on Thursday.

 Consulate spokeswoman, Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, said that the visiting lawmakers in Gaza did not meet with Hamas officials.

 In October of 2003, three persons were killed in an explosion that struck an American diplomatic convoy in Gaza.

No American representative ever stepped foot in Gaza since Hamas achieved an overwhelming victory in the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006.

Hamas: American visit to Gaza Strip step in the right direction

[ 20/02/2009 - 11:11 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Hamas Movement has described the visit of members of the US Senate and Congress to the devastated Gaza Strip as "step in the right direction" although it was prompted by humanitarian reasons.

Former US presidential Democrat candidate Sen. John Keri paid a visit to the tiny coastal Strip shortly after two members of the US Congress Bryan Bird and Keith Alison inspected the devastation left by the monstrous Israeli war on Gaza last month. The visit was the first visit paid by US official figures since Hamas Movement took control of the Strip two years ago.

"We hope that the visit will be followed up by more steps that could contribute in rectifying the US policy in dealing with the Palestinian issue. To support the just cause of the Palestinian people, and to lift the oppression that was inflicted on them due to the wrong American polices in the past that gave Israel the green light to commit massacres in the Strip", asserted Hamas's spokesman in Gaza Fawzi Barhoum in a statement published by the Bayan Information center (BIC).

"The smooth entry of the American delegation to the Gaza Strip proves that we (Palestinians) don’t close doors for any visitors willing to see the volume of the destruction left by the Israeli aggression on the populated Strip", asserted Barhoum, urging the American delegation to convey the picture to the American public, and to the decision-making circles in the USA with the aim to prompt the new US administration [under Barack Obama] to start new stage in dealing with the Palestinian issue.

Barhoum also opined that the visit was an indirect step to break the isolation imposed on the Gaza Strip, and the legitimate government of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haneyya although he blamed the Democrats delegation for not meeting officials of the democratically elected PA government, warning that the statements of Keri about the Palestinian home-made rockets could be taken as pretext by the Zionist occupation to continue the aggression on the Palestinian people.

For his part, Hamas's lawmaker MP Mushir Al-Masri seconded Barhoum's remarks, and urged the US delegation to see for themselves the volume of destruction inflicted by the Israeli occupation on the Strip, and to know the Zionist mentality that promotes murder and destruction, urging the new US administration to stand equal distance from the Palestinians and the Israelis.

But he underlined that Hamas wasn’t gasping to meet US figures as "doors of Hamas are open before all", adding that what was important for the Movement is for the delegation to convey the real picture of the Israeli destruction in Gaza.