(Ha'aretz) Barak Ravid and Jack Khoury - After frequent media reports of contacts between Israel and Hamas over a long-term cease-fire, Israel officially denied Monday that it is conducting direct or indirect negotiations with Hamas. "There are no direct contacts, no contacts through other countries and no contacts through intermediaries," the prime minister's bureau said. Since last summer's war in Gaza, a number of international figures have been involved in various initiatives including former Quartet emissary to the Middle East Tony Blair, the former British prime minister. After Blair resigned from his Quartet post in May, he was no longer prevented from talking to Hamas as per Quartet policy, and has met twice in Qatar with Hamas' political bureau chief Khaled Meshal in recent months. An Israeli official said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear to Blair that he was not authorizing him to convey messages to Hamas and that he did not regard Blair as an intermediary.
2015-08-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive