Bush successor should do Middle East rethink:Hamas

GAZA (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush's successor should reverse current policy toward the Palestinians by lifting the embargo on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and cutting back support for Israel, a top Hamas leader said on Saturday.

Shunned by the West for its refusal to coexist with the Jewish state or renounce violence, the Islamist group has generally withheld public comment on next week's U.S. election.

"The current American administration exhausted the international community because of the cover it gave to the Occupation (Israel) and its aggressions on the Gaza Strip," Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's top politician in Gaza, told reporters.

"We hope the new administration will learn today's lessons and seek to prove it's a balanced and a neutral administration," he said, stopping short of voicing support for Democratic candidate Barack Obama or his Republican rival John McCain.

On the campaign trail, both candidates have spoken in favor of continuing to isolate Hamas. But Obama has criticized the Bush administration for overseeing unproductive talks between Israel and Hamas's secular Palestinian rivals, and pledged to find diplomatic "breakthroughs" if elected president.