(Guardian-UK) Ewen MacAskill - The British government is considering a major Middle East policy switch that would mean engaging directly and openly with the militant groups Hamas and Hizballah, who are expected to make significant gains in elections in the West Bank and Gaza and in Lebanon. The Foreign Office is swinging behind the view that it would be hypocritical to encourage democracy but refuse to accept the outcome, even if it means working with groups it finds distasteful. But some in the FO argue that Hamas should not be accepted, even after elections, unless it renounces violence and drops its stated goal of the destruction of Israel. One official said there was no obligation to deal with someone just because they had been elected, and described Hamas as made up of "unreconstructed terrorists." Gideon Meir, deputy director-general of media at the Israel Foreign Ministry, said Thursday: "Any contact with Hamas by a foreign government, no matter what level, is a recipe for Hamas to continue terrorist attacks to destroy the State of Israel." The U.S. broadly shares the Israeli approach.
2005-05-20 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive