Militants' gains at polls persuade Foreign Office to rethink policy

Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor

Friday May 20, 2005

source:   The Guardian

The British government is considering a major Middle East policy switch that would mean engaging directly and openly for the first time with the militant groups Hamas and Hizbullah, who are expected to make significant gains in elections in the West Bank and Gaza and in Lebanon.

A review is under way at the Foreign Office and a submission is to be presented to the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, within the next few weeks.

British diplomats at present have little contact with Hamas, the Palestinian group responsible for most of the suicide bombings in Israel, or Hizbullah, the Lebanese-based anti-Israeli milita.

But the Foreign Office is swinging behind the view that it would be hypocritical to encourage democracy but refuse to accept the outcome, even if it means working with groups it finds distasteful.

A change in policy would strain relations with Israel. An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman warned Britain against dialogue with the groups. The Israeli government publicly opposes contact with either. The US broadly shares the Israeli approach.

The British rethink has been forced by the success of Hamas in municipal elections in the West Bank and Gaza on May 5, where it took control of 30 of the 84 municipal councils. It could take about 30% of the seats in the parliamentary elections, tentatively scheduled for July 17, and, in theory, join the Palestinian Authority.

The popularity of Hamas, a hardline Islamist group, is partly because it is seen as free of corruption, in contrast with the ruling Fatah organisation.

Hizbullah is to contest the Lebanese election, scheduled for May 29. It is closely linked with Iran, and fought Israel in southern Lebanon, forcing its army to pull out in 2000.

The dominant mood in the Foreign Office has swung in favour of engagement. But some in the FO argue that Hamas should not be accepted, even after elections, unless it renounces violence and drops its stated goal of the destruction of Israel.

One official said there was no obligation to deal with someone just because they had been elected, and described Hamas as made up of "unreconstructed terrorists".

The British embassy in Tel Aviv and the British consulate in East Jerusalem, which deals with the Palestinians, are due to meet next week to thrash out a common position for inclusion in the submission to Mr Straw.

British policy at present is to have only discreet contact with Hamas. In 2002, Alastair Crooke, an MI6 agent attached to the EU's Jerusalem mission, held a series of secret talks with Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups to secure a ceasefire. Since his departure, contact with Hamas has become more infrequent.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "The UK has had limited, low-profile, working-level contacts in the occupied territories with Hamas politicians not implicated in violence."

But Gideon Meir, the deputy director-general of media at the Israeli foreign ministry, said yesterday: "Any contact with Hamas by a foreign government, no matter what level, is a recipe for Hamas to continue terrorist attacks to destroy the state of Israel."

Israel in the past has publicly denounced Palestinian groups while engaging with them in secret. But Mr Meir said that if Hamas was to join the Palestinian Authority, "it is the end of the peace process".

Diplomats are hoping for guidance on how to deal with Hamas from Mr Straw ahead of the Palestinian election.

The military wings of Hamas and Hizbullah are classified as terrorist groups by the Home Office. But there is no ban on their political wings.