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Hamas participation in talks with Israel can yield positive results

Politics Materials 3 February 2009 19:32 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 3 /corr. Trend U.Sadikova / European Union's involving Hamas in the talks with Israel may help advancing Palestinian-Israeli reconciliation, considering political authority of HAMAS. It is not excluded that the USA will support EU plan for advancing participation of Hamas in the talks, experts say.

Last week the special representative of the Quartet on the Middle East, Tony Blair, said in an interview for the British Times newspaper that "time has come to begin negotiations with Hamas", since this is the only way to reach peace in the Middle East. Blair's commentaries were made immediately after his meeting with the special representative of the new U.S. Administration in the Middle East, George Mitchell, who were on an official visit to the region.

In his interview for British publication, Blair supported the military actions of Israel in the Gaza Strip against the fighters of Hamas in response to the missile firings, adding that "it is necessary to change strategy [Palestinian-Israeli negotiations], i.e., to include Hamas in the negotiations process.

Blair said in his interview that if Hamas will be continuing denying existence of Israel, then it will have to hold negotiations with the Palestinian movement as "de facto authority in Gaza". In mid January, Javier Solana, European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy also stated the need to involve Hamas in the talks with Israel.

"The EU is coming to the realization that Hamas can not be defeated militarily, and therefore, it needs to use [political] authority of Hamas in the talks with Israel," Chris Doyle, Head of Council for Arab-British Understanding (СААВU), told Trend in a telephone conversation from London.

Hamas resistance movement, founded in 1987, reached the apex of its political activity in 2006, gaining victory in the parliamentary elections, gaining 60.8 percent of votes. The European observers recognized these elections as democratic despite that the head of the Palestinian administration Mahmud Abbas boycotted the election results.Refusing to hold negotiations with the leaders of Hamas regarding establishment of the united Palestinian State, Abbas, caused political spilt inside the autonomy, which led to the military coup and the expulsion of the troops Fatah from the Gaza Strip in 2007.

Gaining victory in the elections, recognized by the European Union as democratic, Hamas has the right to require respect for its authority in Gaza and to be a participant in the talks with Israel, said the Deputy general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, Daoud Abdullah.

"Hamas has the right to require respect [PA and Israel] for its legitimate authority in Palestine, or otherwise progress will not be achieved in the negotiations," Abdullah told Trend in a telephone conversation from London. The international observers evaluate the statement by Blair regarding the participation of Hamas in the negotiations as the beginning of the new stage of resolving the conflict in Palestine at the diplomatic level.

No progress can be made toward peace in the face of Palestinian disunity, George Bisharat, independent expert on Middle East of the University of California, told Trend via e-mail.

Bisharat said that therefore, it is necessary to begin negotiations with all Palestinian sides and to draw Hamas with respect to Palestine with Israel and European Union.

The last Palestinian-Israeli negotiations at high level were held in 2007 in the American city of Annapolis, where Hamas was not invited and was not recognized as the side of negotiations. Mahmud Abbas and Ehud Olmert made a decision to create an independent Palestinian state in the end of 2008.

After military actions of Israel in Gaza against the members of Hamas, during which mainly peaceful Palestinians were killed (1300 Palestinians, according to the data by BBC), the European Union understood the need for beginning negotiations with Hamas, since the actions of ruling party Fatah were insufficient, said Awad Chamas, head of the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies, told Trend ."Any attempt to reach the reconciliation between Israel and Palestine will be unsuccessful if it will continue with the participation Fatah and Israel," Chamas told Trend in a telephone conversation from Brussels. - Unfortunately, some Arab countries [ Egypt, Saudi Arabia] and Fatah do not support the right of Hamas to participate in the policy of Palestine".

Europeans condemned the military action of Israel in Gaza, since the majority of those killed were innocent civilians, but not members of Hamas. Therefore, Chamas considers that for the long-term reconciliation, Hamas must become one of the participants in the talks with Israel. The initiative of the European Union to include Hamas in the negotiations process with Israel will be most likely supported by the new U.S. Administration, experts said.

The USA sees the solution of the problem of Palestinians and Israelis in the presence of all sides "even those, who are terrorists, at the negotiating table," Phyllis Bennis, fellow on foreign policy of the Institute for Policy Studies, told Trend via e-mail.

The U.S. Department of State named Hamas in the list of 42 foreign terrorist organizations.Although the policy of Barack Obama in the Middle East is still unclear, he already expressed the desire to co-operate with Iran and Syria. Therefore, it is not excluded that he will begin negotiations with Hamas with the mediation of the European Union, Chamas said.

However, it is still unclear what the USA will precisely regulate: financial crisis or conflict in the Middle East. The head of СААВU said that therefore, the European Union will attentively follow the future plans of Washington in the region.If the European Union assumes the role of mediator in the negotiations of Israel and Palestine with the participation of Hamas, it is not excluded that this can become opposition in the Middle East for the administration of Obama, but to make concrete statements is still early, said American expert Bisharat.

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