LONDON – Hamas is ready to open talks with U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, who must deal with the Palestinian militant group if he wants to address the wider conflict in the Middle East, the group's leader said in an interview broadcast Saturday.

Khaled Mashaal said that Hamas is ready for dialogue with Obama and his new administration "on the basis that the American administration respects our rights and our options."

Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since seizing power by force in June 2007 from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.

The administration of President George W. Bush has boycotted the Islamic militants, as has most of the international community. Hamas refuses to renounce violence or recognize Israel.

"The American administration, if they want to deal with the region, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict, they have no other option than deal with Hamas because we are a real force on the ground, effective," Mashaal told Sky News from Damascus, Syria.

The exiled militant leader said that the election of a U.S. president with African roots was "a big change — political and psychological" and congratulated him on his victory.

Denis McDonough, senior foreign policy adviser to Obama, said Hamas had to change its policies before it could engage in any talks.

"President-elect Obama said throughout the campaign that he will only talk with Hamas if it renounces terrorism, recognizes Israel's right to exist and agrees to abide by past agreements," McDonough said.

On Friday, Hamas Gaza strongman Mahmoud Zahar said he hoped Obama's victory would open a new page in relations between the U.S. and the Muslim world. But he said he did not expect the U.S. to talk to Hamas immediately.

Obama visited Israel and the West Bank in July, meeting Israeli leaders and Abbas and traveling to an Israeli town that had been hit by Hamas rockets from Gaza.

That's good.

I think it confirms Obama is the antichrist/jk
Seriously its good, comunication is really important if they want to get an agreement in that region.

While this appears good, as some of you have noted, this is nothing significant. As the article notes, Obama has been adamant that Hamas meet certain criteria before the US begins any diplomatic channels with them. Expect the diplomacy to continue to focus on Fatah and Israel-especially since the prospective Egyptian-led reconciliation meeting between Hamas and Fatah was delayed.

Good start. Lets hope this doesn't fuck up...

actually a good start would be them not saying they want to kill their neighbours.

I'd say screw protocol, and let's talk despite past occurances and opinions. Especially the latter can only be elaborated upon and perhaps changed through direct talk.

I mean, no one has ever tried it really with Hamas... let's try it now that they are open to it. They've announced a ceasefire so use this hopefull opportunity to drag some additional prospects out of it. Any progress in that region is a welcome one.

Obama is not going to touch this with a 10-foot pole. He's way too smart politically to go for something like this.

It would set a bad precedent if we opened dialogue with Hamas, a terrorist group, before it met certain requirements. Besides, before the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can be resolved, we must solve the Fatah-Hamas conflict. That is why Hamas' decision to skip the reconciliation meetings in Egypt was disheartening. Hopefully, Hamas decides to abandon its policy of violence and accept its position as a responsible political entity. 

People forget what Obama is sometimes.

Obama, is a politician. Nothing more, nothing less. he will do what every other politician does.

In this case, nothing. When he said he would sit down and talk, he said it under the single rule in which all of them speak: "What do I say here to get the most votes".

Don't expect him to sit down with every self proclaimed leader just because he was pandering.