EU Says Talking With Hamas, Israel Fumes

GAZA, June 16, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The European Union revealed Thursday, June 16, it had been in contacts with the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement Hamas, bringing in protests from Israel.

The declaration, asserted by Hamas, comes as a sharp shift in the block’s position on the group enlisted on the EU’s “terror” list.

“We have had technical diplomatic contacts with Hamas,” an EU official told Agence France Presse (AFP) on condition on anonymity.

The EU official stressed that the contacts with Hamas intensified following the group’s electoral success in municipalities, which are the recipients of aid projects.

“We must find a practical solution.”

Hamas spokesman, Mushir Al-Masri, confirmed that mayors, elected in the Palestinian local council polls, had held talks with EU diplomats to discuss international assistance and the current de facto ceasefire with Israel.

"Hamas is open to dialogue with all countries except the Zionist enemy, which occupies the land and kills our people," Al-Masri said, according to Reuters.

Hamas secured a landslide victory over the mainstream Fatah in the first-ever Gaza Strip council elections in January.

It also beat Fatah in four out of five major cities in the second stage of municipal polls last month before court rulings cancelled results in three main municipalities and ordered a run-off election.

Earlier this month, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw disclosed that diplomats from his country had met officials from Hamas' political wing on two occasions.

Contacts

Sami Abu Zuhri, another Hamas spokesman, said the meetings between Hamas and EU diplomats were held in the occupied Palestinian territories and abroad.

“There have been several meetings and communication between Hamas and the European Union on several levels. Some of it has been in Gaza and the West Bank, but some of it has been outside the Palestinian territories,” he told AFP.

“These meetings followed changes in the Palestinian territories, especially after Hamas won the last local elections.”

“Europe understands that there can be no order in the Middle East without Hamas,” he noted.

Mohammed Ghazal, a senior Hamas representative in the West Bank, said contacts in the West Bank and Gaza were with lower-level EU diplomats, but the higher-level contacts between Hamas and the EU were taking place abroad.

"Every 10 days to two weeks we have at least one meeting with a European diplomat," he was qouted as saying by the Israeli Haaretz.

“No Change”

The EU official, however, denied that the contacts with Hamas represented a change in the EU stance on classifying the resistance group as a “terrorist” organization.

“This doesn’t signify any change in policy toward an organization which is still included on the European Union’s list of terrorist groups,” he told AFP.

In Brussels, EU spokeswoman Elena Peresso said the 25-nation bloc has reached no collective decision on whether to change its policy toward Hamas.

Both the European Union and the United States list Hamas as a terrorist group, but the recent political clout of the resistance movement has left the West in a dilemma.

Israeli daily Ha'aretz had earlier said in an un-sourced report that the EU decision on holding contacts with Hamas had surprised the US - a co-sponsor with the EU, Russia and the United Nations of the Middle East peace road map - and raised Israeli concerns.

US officials and diplomats told Reuters earlier this month the Bush administration was showing signs of easing its hard-line stance on Hamas in response to the group’s political clout and soaring popularity.

Israel Protests

Israel, which rejects any contacts with the resistance group, said Thursday it has protested increasing EU contacts with Hamas, according to Ha'aretz.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it is pressing EU officials to maintain their official designation of Hamas as a terrorist group.

"We believe Europeans should be strengthening moderate Palestinians and not appeasing the extremists," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

"Anything that demonstrates acceptance of Hamas as a legitimate player is a problem."