Mashaal echoes Assad, calls Olmert 'weak'

Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal said Tuesday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was "weak," and that the steps Israel would take in the face of the Winograd Committee's recommendations would be "as far as possible" from peace, Israel Radio reported. Mashaal also called on Washington to honor the new situation in the Palestinian Authority and reexamine its position on the new PA unity government. On Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad said that Olmert's government was the "weakest in Israel's history."