France Discloses 'Contacts' With Hamas
Former Envoy Met Top Leaders

By Molly Moore
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, May 20, 2008; A08



PARIS, May 19 -- France has had contacts with the leaders of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas "for several months," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday.

"We must be able to talk if we want to play a role," Kouchner said in a radio interview. "These are not relations, they are contacts."

Kouchner's remarks followed the publication Monday of an interview with France's emissary to Hamas -- a former ambassador to Iraq -- in the daily newspaper Le Figaro.

The disclosure of French contacts with Hamas, which the United States and European Union consider a terrorist organization, followed an uproar in the U.S. presidential campaign over the issue of government contacts with sponsors of terrorism.

President Bush, during a Middle East visit last week, told the Israeli parliament, "Some seem to believe we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along." He compared the willingness to meet with "terrorists and radicals" to the pre-World War II "appeasement" of Nazi Germany.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama chastised Bush for what he said was an obvious slap at his comments that the United States should open lines of communication with countries such as Iran and Syria in an effort to advance peace. The senator from Illinois has not advocated negotiating with the Hamas organization.

Hamas defeated the Fatah movement, long dominant in the Palestinian territories, in January 2006 parliamentary elections. After a power-sharing deal failed, Hamas last June forcibly took control of the Gaza Strip, where it is much stronger and more influential than Fatah, which continues to control the Palestinian Authority from its base in the West Bank.

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter drew criticism from Israel and the Bush administration for meeting with Hamas leaders in Damascus, Syria, last month.

Regarding the French contacts, Israeli officials said they had been assured that France's policy had not changed.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, "We don't believe it is helpful to the process of bringing peace to the region."

Carter and French emissary Yves Aubin de la Messuzi¿re gave similar accounts of their separate sessions with Hamas, saying its leadership appeared willing to moderate its political positions.

Kouchner, in his interview with Europe 1 radio, said Hamas still does not recognize the state of Israel but is "more flexible than before" on the subject. Historically, Hamas has called for Israel's elimination.

"They assured that they were ready to accept a Palestinian state," de la Messuzi¿re told Le Figaro, adding that the statement "amounts to an indirect recognition of Israel."

"They said they were ready to stop suicide attacks and, what surprised me is that the Islamist leaders recognize the legitimacy of Mahmoud Abbas," said de la Messuzi¿re, referring to the Palestinian Authority president from Fatah.

De la Messuzi¿re said he met with the Hamas prime minister, Ismael Haniyeh, and his Gaza foreign minister, Mahmoud Zahar.

The government announced its contacts with Hamas because "we must do so clearly" and with the full knowledge of France's partners, Kouchner said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will make an official visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories in June, Kouchner said, adding that Sarkozy will not meet with Hamas on that trip.


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Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama chastised Bush for what he said was an obvious slap at his comments that the United States should open lines of communication with countries such as Iran and Syria in an effort to advance peace. The senator from Illinois has not advocated negotiating with the Hamas organization

If we are to recognize a Palestinean state, then surely we should open lines of communication with their elected leaders. As Obama pointed out, it was this administration that pushed for those elections, even after being advised that Hamas would probably win.

Hamas was elected by the people.
Israel doesn"t want peace....
Wants all Palestine without the Palestinians.

Can't say that I believe that. No one has given peace a chance over there. We are talking a half century (at least) of mistrust. That cannot be cured by just one side or the other, it will take both to have true peace. And even still, there will be those on both sides that will try to ruin that peace. Each side will have to hold there own accountable.

Israel wants land not peace..Has refused the peacekeepers of the United Nations.
Israel receives money from USA and spys and betray USA.
Here is the list of traitors..

Jewish-Zionist-Soviet Anti-American Criminals & Spies


Jonathan Pollard
Julius & Ethel Rosenberg
Mordechai Vanunu
Morton Sobell
Elizabeth Terrill Bentley
Klaus Fuchs
David Greenglass
Ruth Greenglass

Aleksandr Semyonovich Feklisov
Theodore Hall
William Perl
Harry Gold
Max Elitcher
Jewish/USA Mafia, Underworld, Gangs
The Mossad
Shin Bet

So, you believe that the problems in Israel/Palestine are strictly the fault of the Jewish people? And you believe that ALL Jewish people want war not peace?

I believe that greed for power causes wars, and that is fueled mostly by leaders of people. Almost anyone will fight for what they see as righteous, but eventually will see that war may not be the answer and that their leaders may have misguided them. In the end, we are all just people. Most all people want for the same things: Love, peace, a home to go to, and a little piece of happiness. These things know no race, religion.

That's not a rebuttal Canuck. Do you condemn war? Do you condemn war always? What is it about the Jewish people that works your innards so?

Hate and Greed fuel wars. Do you not think that your own hatred is a part of the problem, the inability to give peace a chance in Israel?

Finally your mask came out..You"re a zionist not a peaceloving jew
like the P.M. that was assassinated.
Leave the territories ,stop killing Palestinians and peace will come.

If Americans Knew - what every American needs to know about Israel/Palestine