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Source: http://jta.org/news/article/2009/03/10/1003598/is-dealing-with-hamas-in-the-cards
Is Dealing with Hamas in the Cards?
[JTA] Ron Kampeas - "The U.S. Congress will find it impossible to work constructively with any Palestinian national unity government that fails unequivocally to recognize Israel, to reject terrorism and all forms of violence, and to accept all previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements," said Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee. "Diluting the existing preconditions for engagement with Hamas would elevate Hamas' stature and pollute any negotiations with a hateful ideology which sabotages the search for regional peace and security," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the committee's top GOP member. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), who chairs the House's Middle East subcommittee, noted, "Hamas is the odd man out....I don't know how you make peace with half of a want-to-be country. I don't know how you sign an agreement with an entity whose legal, political and administrative bona fides are all in question."