Raghida Dergham, respected al-Hayat correspondent, on the need for concerted Arab pressure on Hamas

The Daily Star - Opinion Articles - Arab states should compel Hamas to endorse peace: "The next few weeks require influential Arab countries to play a leading role on the Palestinian front. They should forge a clear stance offering outright support for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and sending a message to Hamas that it will be out of the Arab fold as long as it rejects the Arab Peace Initiative proposed at the 2002 Beirut summit.

In parallel, the Arabs need to allocate large sums of money to Palestine if Hamas endorses the initiative without reservation and backs the Palestinian national dialogue by mutating from a liberation movement into a responsible authority that renounces violence and honors negotiations and previous agreements."