Britain urged to talk to 'moderate elements' in Hamas

Britain urged to talk to 'moderate elements' in Hamas
Tuesday, August 14, 2007 30 Av, 5767

A parliamentary report, published on Monday, recommends that the British government should talk to "moderate elements within Hamas" and push for the restoration of a Palestinian national unity government, the UK media reported.

The report by the Commons foreign affairs select committee, a cross-party panel of MPs, argues that western sanctions against Hamas, for its refusal to renounce violence and recognise Israel, have been "counterproductive" and that the EU’s unwillingness to provide direct aid for the Palestinian Authority "very damaging.”

Referring to the events of June, which led to the break up of the national unity government, the report says that while the actions of both sides in Gaza were "deplorable", the refusal of the international community to lift its boycott of Hamas "meant that the national unity government established by the Mecca agreement was highly likely to collapse".

The report said that that any attempt by the international community to ignore Gaza, which Hamas is controlling since June, and pursue a "West Bank first policy" would "risk further jeopardising the peace process".

Hamas won a majority in the parliament election in January 2006, but the Internattional Quartet refused to deal with the Hamas-led government until it accepted three principles: the renunciation of violence, the recognition of Israel and the endorsement of existing Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

Opportunity

The MPs believe that Tony Blair’s appointment as the special representative for the international Quartet (the US, the UN, the EU and Russia) provides an opportunity to open up contacts with Islamic group. "

We recommend that he engage with Hamas in order to facilitate reconciliation amongst Palestinians," the report says.

In a statement, a Foreign Office spokesman declared:

"We have made clear that we will respond to significant movement by Hamas. We have not said that we will never talk to Hamas. But there have to be some ground rules. That’s what the Quartet principles aim to provide and are no more than was demanded of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in the 1990s as the essential basis for progress."

Last month, a group of 22 British parliamentarians called for international engagement with Hamas after it helped free BBC reporter Alan Johnston in Gaza.