By Xinhua
Damascus : An upcoming conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict proposed by the United States was doomed to fail as it would only serve Israel’s interests, Hamas politburo leader Khaled Meshaal said in an interview with CNN broadcast on Monday.
“There is no doubt that the outcome will be leaning towards Israel’s best interest because (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert is the stronger side in the negotiations,” said Meshaal, who lived in exile in the Syrian capital.
On July 16, U.S. President George W. Bush proposed that an international conference would be held this fall, which would include Israel, the Palestinians, and some neighboring Arab states,to help resume the stalled Middle East peace talks.
Meshaal said the conference, expected to be “controlled and directed” by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, would only be an American one instead of an international one as claimed as it would exclude “key players in the region”.
“All these reasons are going to lead to a failure,” said Meshaal, according to CNN’s translation of his comments in Arabic.
“The American administration is fighting Hamas and working on isolating it,” Meshaal said, acknowledging that the United States was unlikely to invite Hamas to the conference.
But Meshaal said that Washington would eventually have to deal with his group.
He also called on the international community to deal with “the reality of the Palestinian arena”, saying this would “lead to genuine peace in the region and the waterfall of blood will stop.”
Meanwhile, Meshaal also warned that the Palestinian people would continue their resistance until the end of the occupation.
A long-term truce would come true “after Israel withdraws from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, east Jerusalem, and recognizes Palestinian rights including the right to return”, said Meshaal.
“This is the road that Israel and the U.S. administration should learn, and the Palestinian people will never give up their rights,” claimed Meshaal.
Meshaal, who escaped an Israeli attempt to assassinate him in 1997 in Jordan, took the interview with CNN several days ago in a tightly guarded location in Damascus.