The Times
June 07, 2005
Britain's 'low level' talks with Hamas
By Simon Freeman, Times Online

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-1644239,00.html

Britain was today accused of undermining the fragile
Middle East peace process by holding 'low level' talks
with the Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, admitted that
diplomats had met newly-elected leaders from the
organisation at least twice since its political wing
seized a number of key seats in the West Bank and Gaza
last month.

Although Mr Straw stressed that Britain would have no
direct dealings with Hamas until it had formally
renounced the use of violence, Israel has criticised
the Government for engaging in such discussions.

Shuli Davidovich, spokeswoman at the Israeli Embassy
in London, said: "Any dialogue will empower the
extremists and not the moderates on the Palestinian
Authority.

"As long as Hamas continued to go through the route or
terrorism we can’t perceive them as a political
organisation."

Her criticism added to pressure on Mr Straw to sever
the emerging diplomatic ties between Europe and Hamas
as he prepared to meet his counterpart in Jerusalem at
the start of a two-day visit to the Middle East.



Mr Straw said that Hamas' democratic successes
presented a ‘dilemma’ for diplomats who want to be
seen to promote the organisation's political ambitions
while continuing to condemn its use of violence.

The organisation's success at the poll - it took 30 of
84 seats including a number of important urban centres
- has caused European Union leaders to consider
backing efforts by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian
leader, to neutralise Hamas by engaging it in the
peace process.

Israel has repeated that it regards Hamas as a
terrorist organisation and redoubled its criticism of
the group's activities today, saying that a period of
relative peace in the past three months was merely the
calm before a "third wave" of suicide bombings and
violence.

This morning, four home-made mortars were fired on the
southern Israeli town of Sderot while Israeli soldiers
reported that they had killed Morwaah Kamil, a leading
militant from Islamic Jihad, after a lengthy gun
battle in Qabitaya, near Jenin.

Mr Straw was keen to stress that a ban on negotiations
with the organisation, which he introduced during his
time as Home Secretary, had not been overturned.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that there had
been 'low-level' contact with elected mayors and
councillors not implicated in violence.

He said: "We are faced with the dilemma following the
decision by Hamas's non-military wing to participate
in the elections in the Palestinian Authority. The
result is that Hamas or people associated with Hamas
have been elected in a number of areas.

"We have a diplomatic job to do, and our diplomats in
the occupied territories see part of their job as
being to have contact with elected representatives.

"In all occupied territories it is de rigueur, it is
required, that if a diplomat of whatever level goes
into a town they go and talk to the mayor. What
happened on two occasions, just two occasions, was
that such discussions have taken place.

"But on each of those occasions our staff have spelt
out to the elected officials our position in respect
of no dealings with Hamas as an organisation as long
as it continues to support violence and the
destruction of Israel."

Israeli officials frequently voice frustration at the
Palestinian Authority for failing to crack down, but
the authority’s leaders insist that they cannot risk
provoking civil war and point to three months of
relative calm as a vindication of Mr Abbas’s
strategy.

A spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry said
today: "Hamas is part of the problem, not part of the
solution. They are committed to Jihad, they do not
believe Israel should exist.

"When we have a period of relative quiet we know that
Hamas is stockpiling weapons, training suicide bombers
and is getting ready for a third wave where they will
launch suicide bombers against Israelis."

Mr Straw will have talks Silvan Shalom, the Foreign
Minister, in Jerusalem today. He will then go to
Ramallah to meet the Palestinian President, Mahmoud
Abbas, the Prime Minster, Ahmed Qurei' and foreign
minister, Nasir Al Qudaw. His tour will end with a
meeting with Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister.

While Mr Straw is in the Middle East, Tony Blair is in
Washington for talks with George Bush which are
expected to touch on the "road map" for peace.




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