Monday, August 13, 2007

Britain urged to engage moderate elements in Hamas

· MPs say western embargos are counterproductive
· Report encourages Blair to talk to radical Palestinians


Julian Borger, diplomatic editor
Monday August 13, 2007
The Guardian

"The British government should talk to "moderate elements within Hamas" and push for the restoration of a Palestinian national unity government, a parliamentary report will recommend today.
The report by the Commons foreign affairs select committee argues that western sanctions against Hamas, for its refusal to renounce violence and recognise Israel, have been "counterproductive"......

In March, the Saudi government brokered the creation of a Palestinian unity government in Mecca between Hamas and the Fatah movement of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, but that agreement did not include an explicit acceptance of the principles and neither the EU nor the Quartet agreed to end the isolation of Hamas. The unity government collapsed in June after factional street fighting, leaving Hamas in control of Gaza and Fatah in charge of the West Bank. "In the Mecca agreement, Hamas moved a very long way," Mike Gapes, the foreign affairs committee chairman said yesterday. "It was an opportunity that was missed. Without engaging with Hamas in some form you're not going to get a two-state solution that involves Gaza."....."

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