Is it now time to talk to Hamas

I blogged a few days ago about it being perhaps time for the United States to talk to the Taliban to create an impetus for change in Afghanistan.

Another pariah would be to talk to Hamas and begin a process of reconciliation in the Palestinian territories.

Roger Cohen believes that this may eb the way forward writing in the New York Times who says that

The Obama administration should also look carefully at how to reach moderate Hamas elements and engineer a Hamas-Fatah reconciliation.

Of course the critics will point to its charter and its non reconciliation of Israel but as Roger points out

it’s wrong to get hung up on the prior recognition of Israel issue. Perhaps Hamas is sincere in its calls for Israel’s disappearance — although it has offered a decades-long truce — but then it’s also possible that Israel in reality has no desire to see a Palestinian state.

It is also important to recognise that Hamas won a free and fair election in the territory.The fact that it was unwanted by the Americans does not make it any less legitimate