MIDDLE EAST:A senior British diplomat met the Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza yesterday for the first time since the Islamic militant group won elections a year ago in a new effort to secure the release of the kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston.
The meeting was the first between Mr Haniyeh and a western diplomat since the new government was formed, and brought a sharp rebuke from an Israeli official.
The talks represented a rare breach of the international diplomatic boycott that followed the Hamas election victory, although diplomats stressed the discussions were only about the kidnapping, not political issues, and did not represent a change in policy.
Richard Makepeace, Britain's consul general in east Jerusalem, travelled to Gaza for the meeting with Mr Haniyeh.
After the talks, Mr Makepeace told reporters in Arabic: "God willing, we can have progress in the soonest possible time."
He also met Mohammed Dahlan, a leader of the rival Fatah group, who has an influential position in Gaza and is the Palestinian national security adviser.
Mr Johnston, who has spent three years living in Gaza as a correspondent for the BBC, was kidnapped on March 12th as he drove home. Although it is widely believed that a large criminal family in Gaza was behind the abduction, the BBC says it has yet to have direct contact with the kidnappers. Others have told the BBC he is alive and well, but his colleagues have grown increasingly anxious.
There have been many kidnappings of foreign aid workers and journalists in recent months but Johnston, who was days from the end of his posting, has now been held for longer than any other hostage - and at a time of increasing lawlessness in the Gaza strip.
- ( Guardian service)