Gaza: Hamas has announced that it is open to negotiating directly with western countries, following an announcement by the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on the willingness of the country to enter into talks with the Islamist movement.
Gaza-based Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh stated, on Sunday, that “he welcomed international calls for direct dialogue with Hamas and resistance factions in the coastal enclave”.
“Several countries are being contacted to urge them to hold direct dialogue with resistance factions. We applaud all attitudes towards reconsidering Palestinian democracy, as our own rival is occupation,” Haniyeh said
The Hamas leader was responding to reports, which surfaced earlier this week that certain countries, including France, were prepared to engage with the Islamist movement directly.
Up until now, the PLO has been the only Islamist group representing Palestine which was open to talking with the West.
In 1974, the (PLO) was declared the “sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people” and admitted to full membership of the Arab League at the Rabat Summit. Arafat became the first representative of a non-governmental organisation to address a plenary session of the UN General Assembly.
The Palestinian Authority, established after the Oslo agreement in 1994, is supposed to be a part of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) which representative Palestinians who live abroad and those at home. Before, and even after, the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994 however, negotiations with other countries, as well as foreign relationships, were considered the responsibility of the PLO.
However, after Hamas won the parliamentary elections in 2006, the power of the PLO began to decrease, until it almost vanished on the ground, at least in the Gaza strip.
“The Palestinian factions used to have its own relations, on previous occasions, in the matter of dealing with other countries. But there was some kind of organising between these factions and the PLO, unlike what is happening in this case,” Hani Habib a political analyst said.
Dr. Ahmed Yousef, the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Gaza government, said: “Things have changed since Hamas was elected in fair elections by the people of Palestine”.
In fact, from time to time over the years, there have been meetings between Hamas and European leaders.
“I believe there are different meetings, in different levels between the Hamas and the Europeans, in different in small and medium levels, and some signs for higher levels, but in a very caution way between the both sides,” Hani added
The 22-year-old Islamic movement, these days controls the Gaza strip which is largely dependent on relief aid mostly from Europe and the United States.
Hani added: “It’s not the first time that Hamas call for direct negotiations and it won’t be the last time, this movement is popular among the Palestinians and wants to play an advanced role in leading the Palestinian politics.”
The United States led an international campaign to isolate Hamas after it won the parliamentary elections in 2006 due to its refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace deals.
“We believe that the Europeans are more understanding for our demands as a Palestinian people, more than the Americans who are totally one sided with the Israelis.” Dr Ahmed added. “I think that the Europeans can play a bigger role especially in the daily matters like electricity, trading and aids, at least in this period,” he added.
