Gaza: Hamas is open to negotiating directly with European countries and has welcomed a recent call by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to enter into talks with the Islamist movement.
Gaza-based Prime Minister Esmail Haniyeh said, 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," Haniya 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 (Palestine Liberation Organisation) has been the only Islamic group representing Palestine which was open to talking with the West.
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA), established after the Oslo agreement in 1994, is supposed to be a part of the PLO which represents Palestinians. Before, and even after, the PNA 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 their 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.
Things have changed
Dr Ahmad Yousuf, 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 Hamas and the Europeans, in different in small and medium levels, and some signs for higher levels, but in a very cautious way between the both sides," Habib added: "It's not the first time that Hamas has called for direct negotiations and it won't be the last time, this movement is popular among Palestinians and wants to play an advanced role in leading Palestinian politics."
The US led an international campaign to isolate Hamas after it won parliamentary elections in 2006.
"We believe that the Europeans are more understanding of our demands as a Palestinian people, more than the Americans who are totally one-sided with the Israelis," Yousuf added. "I think that the Europeans can play a bigger role especially in daily matters like electricity, trading and aid, at least in this period."
