Hamas is calling for reconciliation in the Middle East.

Alright, a little background: Hamas, loosely translated on Wikipedia as “Islamic Resistance Movement, is a Palestinian group that recently won a majority in the Palestinian Parliament. They govern the Gaza region and are classified by the United States, the European Union and a few other countries as a terrorist organization.

There are elections on the way in the region, and Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas is calling for Palestinian reconciliation before those elections happen, specifically asking for their rival Fatah to accept and recognize Hamas, saying that otherwise democracy will not lead to unity. [Side note- democracy doesn’t lead to unity, I think the U.S. can attest to that, so it’s a bit of an empty statement, but the sentiment is good. Imagine if the Republicans didn’t even recognize the existence of the Democrats- that would be a major problem] Meshaal lives in Damascus, the capital of Syria, in exile.

"No presidential or parliamentary elections can be carried out without harmony and reconciliation. We dismiss any suggestions that the elections will be carried out on the status quo where Gaza will be ruled out and the elections will be carried out in the West Bank... We warn of any hasty decisions of the proposals made by Israel and the US,” said Meshaal.

Once again we see the Gaza Strip, Israel, the U.S. and Palestine all wrapped up in the same sentence along with words like shunned and reconciliation. A tangled web of politics and land arguments.

New elections are coming up to see who will be in power over Gaza, and the current party in power isn’t recognized by its rivals, is deemed a terrorist organization by the majority of the western world, and is in the midst of a brutal, decades-long disagreement both diplomatic and violent with its neighbor, Israel. Its leader lives in exile.

Hamas basically led an all out assault on the Gaza Strip in 2007 from Fatah, which are based in the West Bank.

Apparently Meshaal and Hamas are welcoming the "new tone of language" that Obama is using. Meshaal emphasized, though, that "we'll put this to test by deeds, not by words.”

His reference is to another issue going on in the region: Israel building settlements in the West Bank. So the gauntlet is drawn- Hamas wants Obama to tell Israel to stop building settlements. And this is kind of what the U.S. wants to say too, because what they want is for everybody in the Middle East to just get along, and Israel just wants to expand and be safe and buffered from everyone who hates them in the region.

Specifically, Meshaal is calling for Israel to retreat to its 1967 borders. Also on the table for negotiations are prisoner exchanges between the groups, something that is in the very early stages of discussion but may become a key component of negotiations.

Beyond all of the politics is Hamas calling for reconciliation- while they may be calling on their own terms, they are recognizing that they must work with other groups and cannot go it alone. This in and of itself is a minor victory for those who desire peace in the region.