(AKI) - There will be no prospect of peace in the Middle East without the involvement of the Palestinian group Hamas, an international expert has warned. On the eve of Tuesday's US-sponsored summit in Annapolis, Saudi Arabia confirmed that it would attend the talks, while Hamas, which has not been invited, dismissed the conference as a failure.But Robert Lowe, Middle East expert from the London-based think-tank, Chatham House, told Adnkronos International (AKI) that without Hamas' involvement there would be no progress. "There's a huge stumbling block, it is just not logical to pursue negotiations with only half the Palestinians," said Lowe. "It's hard to see how Annapolis can go very far. Fatah themselves are divided, there is a huge problem of legitimacy and representation. It's not only the Palestinians who cannot present a united front. The Israeli government is also fragile. Who knows when the next election will be?"
While Lowe recognised that it was a good sign that the sides are talking, he also said Israel's restrictions on food and medical supplies to Gaza was making peace a dim prospect and fuelling potential violence.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think-tank, also said neither Abbas nor Olmert had enough domestic political support to fulfill any kind of agreement. In a paper entitled "The Annapolis Peace Conference: Cloudy Prospects for Success", expert James Phillips attacked the Palestinians for failing to recognise the legitimacy of the Jewish state in its previous negotiations.
But he attacked Hamas saying it was the greatest obstacle to peace. "Hamas, which continues to rain rockets down on Israeli civilians living near the border with Gaza, is in a position to explode the chances for a genuine peace," Phillips said. "Backed by Iran and Syria, it is fortifying its Gaza stronghold and preparing for war, bolstered by tons of weapons smuggled across the border with Egypt. Sooner or later Israel will be compelled to defend itself by invading Gaza, which will further cloud the prospects of peace. But as long as Hamas retains its stranglehold over Gaza, no stable peace is possible."
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy has accused Hamas of using Annapolis to delegitimise the Palestinian Liberation Organization, of which Fatah comprises the largest faction. "The push for diplomatic progress at Annapolis has already exacerbated the confrontation between Fatah and Hamas, " said Mohammad Yaghi, in a policy paper released by the institute. "Diplomatic prospects have raised the stakes of the debate over who has the political legitimacy to negotiate with Israel."