Soccer Dad

Creative ... or delusional

Earlier this week came the news that a bipartisan group of 8 former government officials were urging the Bush administration to include talks with Syria and Hamas. Joe Klein calls the effort "creative." The letter (cited here via The Washington Note) includes:

• We commend the administration for its decision to invite Syria to the conference; it should be followed by genuine engagement.

A breakthrough on this track could profoundly alter the regional landscape. At a minimum, the conference should launch Israeli-Syrian talks under international auspices.

• As to Hamas, we believe that a genuine dialogue with the organization is far preferable to its isolation; it could be conducted, for example, by the UN and Quartet Middle East envoys.

Promoting a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza would be a good starting point.

Well, maybe Hamas and Syria don't want dialogue.

Consider the news today:

Hamas' top leaders in Gaza and Syria warned the moderate Palestinian president Friday not to "fall into the trap" of an upcoming U.S.-sponsored peace conference with Israel.

Ismail Haniyeh, who was deposed as Palestinian prime minister after Hamas violently seized Gaza in June, urged President Mahmoud Abbas to mend his rift with the Islamic militant group and criticized him for planning to attend the peace conference next month.

"Don't fall into the trap of the coming conference. Don't make new compromises on Jerusalem, on our sovereignty," Haniyeh said, speaking to thousands of cheering supporters for the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.

and Assad?

Adding to the pessimism already surrounding the upcoming summit, Syrian President Bashar Assad announced on Thursday that his country would not participate in November's conference in Annapolis, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Assad said the conference would not answer any of his demands, his biggest being that Israel hand over the Golan Heights, a strategically vital plateau that Israel won in the 1967 war.

How can you engage parties who don't wish to be engaged?

Crossposted at Yourish.