White House: "[Engaging Hezbollah & Hamas...involves] recognizing the right of Israel to exist ..."

The White House, here

Q Following up slightly on that, Great Britain has decided that it's going to be talking to Hezbollah, and recognizes it as a part of the political fabric of Lebanon. Given the President's comments about reaching out to some elements of the Taliban, is there a broader discussion about how to engage radical Islamist movements that play important political roles in the Middle East and in Central Asia, including Hamas, that's taking place within the administration?

MR. GIBBS: Well, I don't want to get too far afield on this except to reiterate the President's desire to strongly be engaged in bringing about a long-term and durable peace to the Middle East -- rather than getting into this and that. Obviously I think the President has stated on a number of occasions that in order for anything like that to happen, there are certain responsibilities that those individual organizations have, including recognizing the right of Israel to exist and renouncing their involvement in terrorist activities. So I think certainly there are activities and responsibilities that have to be undertaken by those organizations well before this administration can render a judgment....