27/01/2009 Palestinian Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh sent US President Barack Obama a letter in which he urged the US to "support the Palestinians' right to freedom and independence," the Al-Jazeera TV network reported Monday evening.
 
Haniyeh congratulated Obama and said his election was a "day of victory for the human struggle for freedom. "Your appointment expresses the triumph of egalitarian values over discrimination and humanity over extremism," the Hamas leader wrote.
"The Palestinians are continuing along the path towards freedom and justice, as other nations in South Africa and America have in the past. However, they will never be content as long as they remain victims of terrorist and barbaric occupation. The death of 1,330 Palestinians by the forces of the occupation during the war in Gaza did not occur because of their political affiliation, but because they seek freedom."
 
Haniyeh added that "the Palestinian nation will never be satisfied as long as it is denied all of the human rights that everyone in America and the rest of the free world is granted."
 
Last week Obama assured Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he intended "to work with him as partners to establish a durable peace in the region," Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.
 
Hamas announced recently that Abbas was no longer a legitimate president of the Palestinian authority as his term expired on the 9th of January.