Why should Israel deal with an organization that says it is dedicated to the Jewish states destruction?
The EU’s argument is quite simple. How do you make peace if you don’t talk to your enemies and who better to talk to than the democratically elected legislators of your enemy? Whether you agree with their views or not they have a mandate and should be free to exercise that. Isolating Hamas will only encourage even more extremist elements. The EU has some serious differences with Hamas’ ideology and its shelling of Israeli towns, and we have pointed this out continually to their leaders. But we have to also remember there are more pragmatic factions within Hamas who would be prepared to reach some kind of compromise with Israel. I spoke to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyya myself and he mentioned the possibility of coexistence within the 1967 borders. We are, however, not sure if the more militant factions are calling the shots at present. We also have to bear in mind that Hamas is also responding to the status quo, which includes Israel’s illegal and continual control of the territory’s bord
