White House: Hamas letter to Obama still in Jerusalem

Date: 24 / 02 / 2009  Time:  09:26
Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies -

A letter to US President Barack Obama from a top Hamas leader has yet to be brought to the United States and is in the hands of US diplomats in Jerusalem, the White House said Monday.

The letter was passed to Democratic Senator John Kerry by a United Nations official in Gaza.

Kerry in turn, passed the letter, which the New York Times reported was from Hamas deputy foreign minister Ahmed Yousuf, to the US consulate in Jerusalem, where it remains.

"As I understand it, some letter was passed -- conflicting reports from whom -- to Senator Kerry, and that letter is with the consulate in Jerusalem," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, according to AFP.

"That's the only update I have on that," Gibbs said, declining to say whether Obama would read such a letter if it reached his desk.

The State Department said on Friday that US officials were weighing how the letter should be treated.

Washington has said it cannot negotiate with Hamas until it agrees to the three Israeli conditions: recognizes Israel (meaning recognizing Israel while the Zionist state still does not recognize the Palestinian state), renounces violence (meaning stopping resistance to the illegal Israeli occupation) and agrees to abide by peace deals between the Zionist state and the Palestinian Authority  (meaning recognizing theft of Palestinian lands before negotiations).

Kerry received the letter, addressed to the President of the United States, from the head of UNRWA, the agency for Palestinian refugees, at the end of a meeting in Gaza, but the UN official did not tell him who it was from, which the senator only learned from news reports, his office said.

The Hamas movement itself has denied giving Kerry a letter. Yousuf said he acted alone in sending the letter.

Ahmad Yousef's letter to President Obama undelivered

Tuesday February 24, 2009 11:49 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC&Agencies

Spokesperson of the White House in Washington stated yesterday that a letter sent by a former Hamas advisor, Ahmed Yousuf, from Gaza to President Barak Obama, has not been delivered yet.

  The spokesperson confirmed that such a letter is still at the American Consulate in Jerusalem and that he is not sure whether President Obama would read it if delivered.   Last week,  Mr. Ahmed Yousuf, deputy-foreign minister in the Hamas government in Gaza, dropped a letter at the UN headquarters in Gaza. The letter was handed by UN officials to John Kerry, a U.S senator who visited Gaza concurrently.  

Hamas commented to such report that it had nothing to do with the latter but it welcomed any visits by U.S officials to the coastal territory, which lies under its control.  

Kerry visited Gaza very briefly and did not meet with any Hamas officials. The U.S  has boycotted Hamas since the latter won parliamentary elections in 2006, until it agrees to the above-mentioned Israeli conditions.