Hamas leader says ready to talk to Obama - Sky News

LONDON (Reuters) - Hamas is ready to talk to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama but he must respect the Palestinian Islamist group's "rights and options", its leader Khaled Meshaal said in an interview on Saturday.

In a visit to Israel in July, Obama played down the chances of negotiating with Hamas unless the group renounced violence and recognised Israel's right to exist.

Under the outgoing U.S. President George Bush, the United States refused to talk to Hamas.

"It's a big change -- political and psychological -- and it is noteworthy and I congratulate President Obama," Meshaal said in the interview with Sky News website from the Syrian capital Damascus.

"But as a result of the election and the change, he should know he has duties to the United States and in the whole world and in hotspots, especially in the Middle East."

"...we are ready for dialogue with President Obama and with the new American administration with an open mind, on the basis that the American administration respects our rights and our options," Meshaal told Sky.

He said the new U.S. administration would have no choice but to deal with Hamas if it was going to help resolve problems in the region.

"The American administration, if they want to deal with the region, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict, they have no other option than deal with Hamas because we are a real force on the ground, effective," he said.

"And we are a movement that won a majority of votes in the election. Second of all, it's not right that Hamas poses any danger to anyone."