For many of us the hope we have in President Obama is matched by the hope we have in you. The task before you is monumental. Since Jimmy Carter no US administration has been able to improve the situation in Palestine, and achieving peace, security, freedom, and stability in the land of the Israelis and Palestinians has eluded the best and brightest at the United Nations and the combined diplomatic efforts of dozens of nations.
When you went to Northern Ireland the situation was surely as bleak as the situation existing now in Palestine. Yet you, by talking fairly with all parties, brought a measure of peace to a troubled land. You did so by talking to the principal parties to the conflict, parties, like the IRA, that were widely dismissed by others as terrorists not worthy of recognition, let alone of participation in negotiations. History has shown your view, not the view that blindly condemned the IRA, to be the correct one.
It is now my hope that you will talk to Hamas and bring them to the negotiating table. Hamas is, of course, vehemently condemned by the other violent party to the dispute, namely Israel. Yet Hamas has established a de facto legitimacy and presence that cannot be denied by any rational observer. Hamas won the election to govern the occupied territories; they then survived a horrific campaign to deprive them of resources and to assassinate, imprison, exile, and destroy their leadership. Hamas has survived, yet again, after it and the people of Gaza were subjected to one of the most violent military onslaughts in recent memory. The Israelis spared nothing - children were killed, hospitals targeted, food supplies shut off, schools destroyed, and UN facilities attacked - yet Hamas has emerged, if anything, stronger and more resilient than ever.
It surely will be impossible to bring any kind of lasting peace without talking to the principal parties to the conflict, one of which is Hamas. It would be highly unrealistic, bordering on fantasy, to believe that anyone could bring a lasting solution while talking only to Israel and other entities that are, in essence, third parties to the conflict. Attempting to give Abbas and Fatah a dominant role would merely be repeating the mistakes of those who came before you, and would be, at this point, the rough equivalent of, say, talking to the Republicans to strike a deal with the Libertarians. The leaders of Hamas have asked that the US speak with them.
Please do the right thing and engage Hamas and all parties to the conflict in a meaningful and honest dialogue. Only then will the compromises emerge that can bring true peace.