08/02/2010 Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal said Monday that he sees no prospects for a Middle East peace settlement, telling reporters during a visit to Moscow that Israel's continued military offensives and occupation made such an agreement impossible.
 
"I do not expect any progress in peace talks on the Palestinian, Syrian or any other direction of the Middle East settlement as the Israeli leadership is the leadership of war, aggression and occupation, rather than a leadership taking a stand for peace," Meshaal said at a news conference in Moscow.
 
He also said that talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas were not a top priority for Hamas in inter-Palestinian reconciliation. "The primary goal is to reach inter-Palestinian reconciliation, not to meet with Abbas. A meeting is not that important... The primary objective is to forge reconciliation," he said.
 
He said that Hamas will sign the Cairo reconciliation deal, which Egypt put forward in early September 2009, only after it is amended according to previously reached agreements.
 
Earlier, Meshaal said in an interview with Vremya Novostei that "US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has been recently implying pressure on Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian officials." He said that Washington is trying to convince Abbas "that if he agrees to the reconciliation with us [Hamas], the United States will stop assisting the Palestinian Authority."
 
He added that another reason for a standstill in the talks is that the Egypt-brokered text of the agreement between the rival parties was amended without the consent of Hamas. "There were some provisions in the text, which were amended without our agreement, or were excluded at all," he said.
 
Meshaal also said that the United States and Russia have strikingly different positions concerning inter-Palestinian reconciliation. "Russia seeks Palestinian unity, while the Americans do not care about this," he said.