Omar Suleiman urging Washington ...to harden its position...

In the CABLE, here

"...Contrary to reports indicating Suleiman was urging Washington to soften its position, U.S. officials say, the Egyptian intelligence chief urged the opposite.

"He didn't ask the U.S. to do anything with regard to the unity talks," said one Washington Middle East hand who met with Suleiman this week. "But he made very clear that he had told the Hamas delegation himself that the only thing acceptable for them is to abide by the commitments, and they couldn't use fudging formulas or ambiguity to get around that, or there couldn't be a deal."

Suleiman's message to the Obama team, according to one think-tank based regional expert, is that "if they want to get this deal between Hamas and Israel for a more durable cease-fire, the administration needs to get a little bit more involved at this point." .....The Egyptians are starting to get frustrated with all the parties," the think tank expert continued. "Suleiman -- who has a lot of credibility in Washington -- is here to say, ‘Hey, listen, I need a little push from you.'"......"I would describe him first and foremost as a political realist," said a former CIA officer who has interacted with the Egyptian intelligence chief. Suleiman "is an incredible, really good guy to try to talk Hamas back." Whether he can do it, he added, is unclear. While he may distrust Israel, the former U.S. intelligence officer said, Suleiman's "biggest fear is that Egypt is going to get squeezed out of its relationship with the Western world and back into the arms" of Islamists."