http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1073262.html
Last update - 19:38 23/03/2009
Abbas warns Europeans against easing boycott of Hamas
By Reuters
Tags: Palestinian Authority
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Western-backed government warned
European states on Monday against easing a boycott of Hamas Islamists, saying
it could put unity talks at risk.
Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said he relayed that message last week to
European leaders during talks in Brussels.
Egyptian efforts to reconcile Abbas's secular Fatah faction, which holds
sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza
Strip, have so far been unsuccessful.
The talks, held in Cairo, were adjourned last week without agreement on
the shape or agenda of a proposed unity government that would oversee the
rebuilding of the Gaza Strip after Israel's offensive, as well as prepare for
new elections.
Negotiations are expected to resume but big differences remain, including
over demands by Fatah that Hamas agree to abide by interim peace agreements
signed with Israel. Hamas has refused to make such a commitment.
The Islamist group, which beat Fatah in a 2006 Palestinian parliamentary
election, is shunned by the United States and the European Union as a
"terrorist" organization for refusing to renounce violence, recognize Israel
and abide by interim agreements.
But some European states have limited contacts with the group and hold
out the possibility of further engagement if the group, which seized control of
the Gaza Strip in 2007 after routing Abbas's forces there, softens its stance
on Israel.
Malki said European overtures could undermine the unity talks by giving
Hamas the impression that "the international community, and especially the
European Union, is ready to change its position towards Hamas", whether the
group agrees to abide
by interim agreements or not.
"There wouldn't be any harm if (European states) talked to Hamas after we
reach a reconciliation agreement and after Hamas joins the parties committed to
the agreements," Malki said
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