EUROPEAN DIARY:There are signs that some EU states are softening their stance towards direct talks with Hamas, writes JAMIE SMYTH.
THE DEVASTATION in Gaza caused by an Israeli offensive that cost some 1,300 Palestinian lives – 400 of whom were children – has prompted a flurry of diplomatic activity in Brussels.
The EU is the largest single donor to Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza and is a member of the “Quartet” – EU, the US, United Nations and Russia – which is aiming to mediate a peace deal in the Middle East. Last year the European Commission provided €486 million aid to feed, clothe and pay the wages of people working and living in the Palestinian territories. EU states provided millions of euro more in direct aid and project financing to rebuild Gaza and the West Bank’s creaking infrastructure.
“Public opinion is fed up to see that we are paying over and over again – be it the [European] commission, the member states or the major donors – for infrastructure that will be systematically destroyed . . . all we do is pay,” said an exasperated EU aid commissioner, Louis Michel, on a visit to Gaza yesterday to assess the damage.
EU foreign ministers also expressed their displeasure in Brussels by publishing a statement yesterday “condemning” Israel’s shelling of UN compounds in Gaza and “deploring” the many civilian casualities. But the question EU diplomats are starting to ask quietly is whether it is time to change EU policy and begin talking to Hamas.
Hamas, a political and social group with a military wing, won a surprise victory in the Palestinian elections in January 2006 and controls Gaza. It is considered a terrorist group by the US and EU and its political charter calls for the destruction of Israel. The EU placed the organisation on its terrorist list in 2003 despite misgivings from some member states including France, which argued at the time that it could hurt the peace process.
Six years on and many analysts and EU diplomats admit the west’s strategy to isolate Hamas has achieved little. Even after the Israeli onslaught over recent weeks the group remains in control in Gaza and has proved its ability to continue firing rockets into Israel.
"In the long term, Palestinian rockets and weapons smuggling can only be stopped if Hamas and other Palestinian factions lose the desire to fight. In order to achieve this Hamas will need to be engaged by Israel and the wider international community," writes Clara Marina O'Donnell, a Middle East expert working at the London-based think tank Centre for European Reform in her recent article Gaza, Europe and Empty Gestures.
The Quartet has placed three conditions before talking to Hamas: recognition of Israel, renunciation of violence, and acceptance of existing peace accords. But there are signs that some EU states are softening their stance towards beginning direct talks with Hamas.
Finnish foreign minister Alexander Stubb articulated this view before meeting Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni together with his EU colleagues last Wednesday. “There is no possibility of reaching a permanent peace without everyone getting around the same table . . . no comprehensive solution can be taken without Hamas,” he told reporters.
Advocates of talking to Hamas note that six years of international attempts to alienate Palestinians from the group have failed, and it remains popular in Gaza. Without direct talks it seems unlikely that any viable peace process with Israel can get off the ground.
The humanitarian crisis on the ground in Gaza creates a further incentive for Europe to rethink its policy towards Hamas.
Even diplomats from countries that continue to oppose talks with Hamas, such as Britain, admit privately that it will be extremely difficult to help people in Gaza with humanitarian aid if there are not technical contacts with Hamas.
The appointment by President Obama of George Mitchell as Middle East peace envoy suggests there may be a change of tack in the White House on Hamas.
So could there be a case for Europe, for so long the paymaster in the Middle East, to signal a policy change?
Diplomats sitting in on yesterday’s foreign affairs meeting say there is little chance of a radical shift in the short term. Traditional supporters of Israel within the EU, such as Germany and the Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency, oppose any move to restore diplomatic links with the group. “We need pragmatic progress on the ground from the Palestinians before the debate on Hamas will be influenced,” said one diplomat, who notes the EU is pushing for Palestinian unity between the two rival Palestinian groups, Hamas and Fatah, before it considers the sensitive question of whether to talk to Hamas.
EU hopes rest on an Egyptian peace plan that focuses on establishing a reconciliation government to rule Gaza and the West Bank. This would allow “technical contacts” with Hamas to begin, which would help the deployment of EU humanitarian aid. But if Egyptian efforts come to naught the EU may have to radically rethink its Middle East policy, rather than simply opening its cheque book and hoping for peace to take hold.