EU: The European Union agreed yesterday day to put the Palestinian militant group Hamas on its blacklist of outlawed terrorist organisations, diplomats said.
Details of the decision, which requires member states to freeze the assets of an organisation and opens the way to prosecute its members on terrorism charges, will be published in the EU's Official Journal tomorrow or early next week.
The EU outlawed Hamas' military wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, last year but held back from ostracising the political wing, arguing it could play a role in peace efforts.
Diplomats said that due to French reservations, the EU decision named only Hamas as a whole but not individual leaders or charities suspected of fundraising for the Islamic movement, unlike a recent US move.
"The decision was taken to include Hamas on the list as a whole without any other specification," one source said after the envoys met in a restricted session in a special bug-proof chamber in the EU council headquarters.
A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana declined to confirm the decision but said the 15-nation bloc's foreign ministers had sent a very clear message to Hamas at their meeting last weekend in Italy.
"This is an unequivocal message from the EU that terrorism will achieve nothing in the Middle East," spokeswoman Cristina Gallach told Reuters.
"What has happened since August, when Hamas broke seven weeks of ceasefire, was absolutely unacceptable. Hamas leaders know that if they reverse their position, renounce violence and enter the political process, they can come off the list," she said.
Meanwhile, the EU voiced concern yesterday at the Israeli decision in principle to exile Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, urging Israel to consider the consequences of any such action.
Ms Gallach expressed "great concern" at news that the Israeli security cabinet had agreed Mr Arafat should be exiled, although not immediately, because of U.S. opposition.
"This is precisely the moment when people should make every possible effort to avoid steps that lead to an escalation and that lead to even more tension," she said. - (Reuters)