国际英语新闻：Hamas says depending on Obama's administration is policy of weak people

DAMASCUS, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Depending on U.S. President Barack Obama's administration is the policy of weak people, Damascus- based Hamas Leader Khaled Mashaal said here on Friday.

He made the remarks at a festival for the 23rd anniversary of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's (Holy War) foundation.

"Obama's administration has been disabling to carry out its promises for us when it was at the height of its power. Now after it has lost mid-Congress votes, it would be able to achieve nothing," Mashaal said.

One year ago, during his speech from the Egyptian capital Cairo, Obama promised to achieve peace between the Palestinians and Israelis on the basis of two-state solution and stop building Israeli settlement.

"It is the time for this settlement to be stopped," Obama said.

Mashaal stressed that the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority was a futile choice which had no future.

He also confirmed that inter-Palestinian reconciliation is a national necessity, pointing out that Hamas was keen to do its best to make it accomplished.

Hamas and Fatah movement have been engaged in a sour power struggle since the Islamic movement swept its rival secular Fatah in legislative elections in 2006.

For his part, Ramadan Shallah, Damascus-based leader of Islamic Jihad, argued that expectations of the reconciliation should not be exaggerated.

"The solution for the Palestinian crisis can't be only restricted by the reconciliation, as there is a need to agree on a national project to face the Zionist project's threats," Shallah said.

Islamic Jihad was founded in Gaza in 1987, during the Palestinian first Intifada, by the Islamic activist Fathi Shaqaqi who was assassinated eight years later in Malta.