Spy Cables expose 'desperate' US approach to Hamas
Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at 01:47PM 
A CIA agent "desperate" to make contact with Hamas in Gaza pleaded for help from a South African spy in the summer of 2012, according to intelligence files leaked to Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit. The US lists Hamas as a terrorist organisation and, officially at least, has no contact with the group.
That was just one of the revelations of extensive back-channel politicking involving the US, Israel and the Palestinian Authority as they navigate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict amid a stalled peace process.
Classified South African documents obtained by Al Jazeera also reveal an approach by Israel's then-secret service chief, Meir Dagan, seeking Pretoria's help in its efforts to scupper a landmark UN-authorised probe into alleged war crimes in Gaza, which was headed by South African judge Richard Goldstone.
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