Israel Matzav

EuroDhimmies

... On a visit to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank this week, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, commissioner for external relations, emphasised the EU would not take sides in the January 25 vote, in which Hamas is mounting a strong challenge to President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.

The EU is unlikely to cut funding automatically if Hamas emerges as part of the Palestinian government after the elections, an outcome many observers consider possible. “We have been a consistent, and reliable partner for both sides [in the Israel-Palestinian conflict],” she said. “We will continue to offer our support to all those who seek peace by peaceful means.”

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However, some EU officials talked to Hamas members through informal and hence deniable channels in the past and were always unhappy about the decision to put the group on the terrorist list, a move championed by Israel and the US. EU foreign ministers have consistently refused to take a similar step for Hizbollah, the Islamist Shia organisation that forms part of the Lebanese government.

Their worry is that heavy handed actions by the EU could prove counterproductive, pushing Hamas further from the political mainstream – a conclusion endorsed on Wednesday by the International Crisis Group, a think-tank in Brussels.

“With the prospect as remote as ever of a renewed peace process or a weakened Palestinian Authority cracking down on a strengthened Hamas, the international community’s best remaining option is to maximise the Islamist movement’s incentives to move in a political direction through a policy of gradual, conditional engagement,” the report says.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:52 PM