If Israel says it won't negotiate where Hamas is involved, then Palestine is entitled to say that it won't negotiate with those responsible for what is happening at present - stalemate.
I have no brief whatever for Hamas or their behaviour in this, but they form the only resistance to Israel - without their actions, there is no opposition to Israeli aggression at the present time.
Refusing to negotiate with them is equal to refusing to negotiate with anybody who had anything to do with all those resistance groups fighting for The State of Israel - we may not be happy with how they went about thing, but they were very much a fact of life (or death).
Some of the old resistance fighters became heroes, even national leaders.
The situation is not unsimilar to what happened in Ireland in the 70s and 80s - I am no lover of the I.R.A., but I have no doubt that their presence brought Britain to the conference table and achieved some sort of peace.
Needs must.... and all that.
In my opinion, in the end, both have to agree to put the matter into the hands of the U.N - unless, of course, Egypt manages to pull something out of the hat - but that has only short term aims.
Jim Carroll