Barack Obama has change in mind for the Middle East, said Suzanne Goldenberg in Britain's Guardian. The president-elect plans to start clandestine, low-level talks with Hamas, according to sources close to the transition. If that happens, it will "represent a definitive break with the Bush presidency's ostracizing of the group."
Let's hope the Guardian's sources are right, said Christina Siun O'Connell in the blog Firedoglake. "Even a secretive and low-level approach would be a significant step in the right direction." The humanitarian situation for the Palestinians in the battle zone is getting "unbelievably worse" under Israel's new offensive, so a shift to dialogue can't happen fast enough.
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