Israel rejects calls to end isolation of Hamas

Israel attempted to damp down calls for moves to end the isolation of Hamas on Aug. 14 by warning that it would be a "huge mistake" to try to reconcile it with its rival Fatah. Tzipi Livni, Israel's Foreign Minister, denounced calls for talks with Hamas by warning that "any compromise with terror, any compromise with these extremists" could undermine the new emergency government set up in the West Bank by the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas. Livni's reaction was at the highest level yet to calls -­ mainly within Europe ­- for the international community, including the EU, to end the boycott imposed on Hamas since it took office 17 months ago. The British all-party Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Select Committee said this week that the boycott had failed to deliver results. It urged Gordon Brown's government to find ways of engaging with "moderate elements" in Hamas and called on Abbas to begin reconciliation efforts with the Islamic faction. The committee's conclusions were further bolstered by the Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi. The former president of the European Commission suggested conflicts in the Middle East could not be resolved without talking to all parties and said Hamas could not become a "taboo word." Last night, however, he telephoned Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, in an apparent climbdown after the latest comments were welcomed by a Hamas spokesman. Livni, a key figure in Israel's contacts with Abbas, said: "I know that it looks tempting and I know that the international community is eager to see a kind of understanding between Hamas and Fatah." But she warned: "This is wrong. This is a mistake. Big mistake. Huge." Israel has made clear it wants to bolster the standing in the West Bank of Abbas and his Prime Minister, Salam Fayad, at the expense of the Hamas administration. Mike Gapes, the select committee chairman, said the British Parliamentarians' report did not neglect Abbas. "Of course, everyone wants to strengthen Abu Mazen," he said, referring to Abbas by his nom de guerre. "But in the context of a two-state solution, you can't do that without engaging Hamas," he said. "I'm not saying we sign up to everything Hamas stands for, but it's like Northern Ireland, you need to engage with the pragmatic ones."