Obama administration takes the heat for alleged Hamas channel
The Obama administration is denying a BuzzFeed report of a back channel to Hamas while also resisting pressure from Congress to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority after the unity agreement.
The news website BuzzFeed reports that the United States held secret talks with Hamas for the past six months to discuss maintenance of the Palestinian movement’s cease-fire with Israel and the formation of the recently announced Palestinian government.
"Our administration needed to hear from them that this unity government would move toward democratic elections, and toward a more peaceful resolution with the entire region,” noted the report, quoting a US official. "It was important to have that line of communication."
The State Department denies that Washington has broken its self-imposed boycott of talks with Hamas, which is listed by the US as a foreign terrorist organization.
“These assertions are completely untrue,” spokeswoman Marie Harf told BuzzFeed. "There is no such back channel. Our position on Hamas has not changed.”
