quote:

We can accept Israel as neighbour, says Hamas.

Hamas said today it would accept a Palestinian state on land occupied in the 1967 war, but it would not explicitly recognise Israel.
Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas, said the group would "respect Palestinian national will even if it was against our convictions", an apparent reference to a referendum on a peace deal.

quote:

ORIGINAL: RealityLicks

quote:

We can accept Israel as neighbour, says Hamas.

Hamas said today it would accept a Palestinian state on land occupied in the 1967 war, but it would not explicitly recognise Israel.
Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas, said the group would "respect Palestinian national will even if it was against our convictions", an apparent reference to a referendum on a peace deal.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/21/israel

Effectively, if Abbas and Olmert reach an agreement Hamas will not bar the way, although some quarters suggest any  referendum should include diasporan Palestinians. 

This excursion of Carter's seems destined to fail in achieving ceasefire but looks increasingly like a shrewd attempt to position him as an honest broker for future talks.  I don't believe that he really had no protection or that Washington and Tel Aviv disapproved of his talks with Hamas, simply that he needed to establish a little distance from both in order to appear credible.  Olmert would talk to Hamas but the hawks in the coalition won't tolerate it.

Perhaps now Fatah and Hamas can turn to healing the rift between them, which will strengthen them both.