Obama adviser denies Hamas meeting

The office of the President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday denied a report by Arab sources which claimed that a secret meeting was held between Hamas and Obama's aides in the Gaza Strip prior to the US general elections.

US President-elect Barack Obama. [file]
Photo: AP

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"This assertion is just plain false," Obama's Senior Foreign Policy Adviser Denis McDonough told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

Earlier, Hamas political adviser Ahmad Yousef claimed on Tuesday morning that before the US general elections, a secret meeting was held between officials from the group and President-elect Barack Obama's advisers in the Gaza Strip.

"We are maintaining contact with them", said Yousef who disclosed no further information as to the nature of the meeting.

In an interview with the London-based Al Hayat newspaper, Yousef reportedly said that contact between Hamas and Obama's advisers was first established over the Internet.

"We first made contact on the Internet and then met with some of them here in the Gaza Strip. They advised us not to reveal this information lest it influence the elections or become manipulated by [Republican candidate John] McCain's campaign".

Yousef added that he personally had friendly relations with a few of Obama's advisers whom he had met when he lived in the US.

"Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh will draft a congratulatory letter to Obama for his victory in the elections," added Yousef.