Signs of Israeli-European crisis following contacts with Hamas
Israel-European Union, Politics, 6/17/2005

Israel had complained over contacts the European Union had made with the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, in a development that warns of a new crisis to occur in the European- Israeli relations; relations which have already been stressed since some time over what Israel considers a European bias against Israel.

The spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry Mark Regeve said that Israel considers that the international community, if it wants to see a progress in the Middle East peace process and a reconciliation between the Israelis and the Palestinians, should support what Israel called the moderates inside the Palestinian society and not to take Hamas as a partner for peace.

The Hamas organization on Thursday confirmed making several contacts and meetings with the Europeans in the past phase. This was expressed in the first comment by the movement on an announcement made by a European official towards these contacts which he described as technical and do not reflect a change in the European policy towards Hamas.

The spokesman for Hamas, Sami Abu Zehri, said that the contacts with the Europeans continued at several levels internally and externally. He considered that the meetings with the Europeans came following "recent changes" at the Palestinian arena that resulted from local elections and reflected Hamas's progress in several municipal councils in the elections which took place in Gaza and the West Bank in May.

He Israeli daily Haartez said on Thursday in a report that the decision of the European Union surprised the United states, which is the main sponsor of the Roadmap plan for peace in the Middle East.

The British foreign office secretary disclosed last week that British diplomats met with officials from the political wing of Hamas twice, noting that London is making contacts with Hamas so that the movement will give up violence.

The European position, which considers Hamas as a terrorist organization, comes at a time when diplomats in Washington indicate that the US is showing signs of wanting to lessen its tough position towards Hamas, due to the increasing political role the movement is having and its great success in the Palestinian elections. However, the White House still persists that no change has been made in its stand towards Hamas.

Previous Stories:
  European MP condemn Israel's cruelty   (10/15/2004)
  Israel rejects European accusations over Rafah aggression   (5/21/2004)
  EU Parliament slams Israeli practices against the Palestinians   (4/7/2004)

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