Britain’s lawmakers reiterated calls for their government to engage with the Hamas, warning that the Hamas isolation is part of Western policies which has failed to bring signs of success in achieving peace in the Middle East. “The government should urgently consider engaging with moderate elements within Hamas,” said The House of Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee in its “Global security” report issued on July 26. The Committee affirmed it stood by a recommendation it first made two years ago that London should engage with Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip. Currently, Britain and other Western nations refuse to talk to Hamas until it accepts the conditions of the international Quartet – the United Nations, the US, the European Union and Russia – of recognising Israel, accepting signed peace agreements and ending what they described as “violence” against Israel. But the committee, made up of MPs from all the main political parties in Britain, concluded that Britain should talk to Hamas as a way of encouraging the group to meet the Quartet conditions. Their report however contrasted the government’s stance with its decision last March to open contacts with the Lebanese resistance movement Hizbullah.
The committee also condemned Israel’s continuing refusal to the international community’s calls to stop settlements expansion and allow unrestricted humanitarian relief to the besieged Gaza Strip. The MPs believe the West should undertake new policies to pressure Israeli into accepting peace initiatives. For example, they said, Europe’s relations with Israel should be bound to halting its practices against the Palestinians. “It is appropriate and potentially effective for the EU to make the planned “upgrade” of its relations with Israel conditional on Israel halting practices which are prejudicial to the achievement of a two-state solution.”