Hamas to Condolezza Rice

       Many people make the mistake of presuming that Hamas has some ideological aversion to making peace. Quite the opposite; we have consistently offered dialogue with the US and the EU," Ahmed Yousef, a senior Hamas official, said Sunday. In an open letter to US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Yousef, who serves as senior political advisor to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, said that his movement did not have any "ideological arguments" with the West. "We are not anti-American, anti-European or anti-anyone," he explained, adding that the time has come for Washington and other Western countries to talk to Hamas. Sources close to Hamas told The Jerusalem Post that Haniyeh and other top leaders of the Islamist movement had given their blessing to the content of the open letter. According to the sources, the letter reflects Hamas's growing predicament under international sanctions and its fear of a massive Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip. But the letter is also seen as a sign of growing divisions inside Hamas, where many officials and activists remain strongly opposed to any form of dialogue with the US. The letter comes against a backdrop of reports suggesting that Hamas was seeking to patch up its differences with Fatah. Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has been summoned to Riyadh for talks with Saudi leaders on ways of ending the Hamas-Fatah power struggle. According to some reports, Hamas has agreed to hand over to Fatah a number of Palestinian Authority institutions in the Gaza Strip, among them the home and office of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. In his letter, Yousef accused the US of "hypocrisy" for refusing to accept Hamas's victory in the January 2006 parliamentary election. Addressing Rice, he wrote: "Meaningful steps toward a resolution cannot take place while the legitimacy of the elected government in Palestine continues to be ignored by your administration. Not only is the policy to isolate Hamas unethical, it is ineffectual as well. Your administration ignores the realities on the ground.(20,45)