THE ISRAELI embassy has accused Fianna Fáil TD Chris Andrews of “naivety” after he called for dialogue with Hamas following a meeting with the organisation’s exiled political leader, Khaled Meshaal, in Damascus at the weekend.
Mr Andrews, along with British and Scottish parliamentarians, including former Labour minister Clare Short, held a two-hour meeting with Mr Meshaal and other Hamas representatives in the Syrian capital on Saturday.
“I thought he was genuinely willing to negotiate,” Mr Andrews told The Irish Times after he left Damascus.
The Dublin South East TD said he had raised the issue of Hamas’s controversial charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel, with Mr Meshaal. “He told me that this is an old document and it needs to be taken in context,” Mr Andrews said. “He also said that if there was a settlement emerging, they would review [the charter].”
The Hamas leader told the visiting delegation that his organisation was prepared to accept a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, along with a full right of return for refugees, Mr Andrews said.
On the vexed issue of Palestinian infighting, Mr Meshaal claimed that “outside interference” was hampering efforts to foster unity between Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank.
Those who met the Hamas leader at his office in Damascus included a second Labour member of the House of Commons and two Liberal Democrat peers. One member of the Scottish parliament was also present.
At a press conference after the meeting, the visiting parliamentarians urged dialogue with Hamas.
“We need to talk to Hamas to make progress [towards peace] because they represent a big proportion of the Palestinians,” said Ms Short.
The EU and the US both consider Hamas a terrorist organisation, and both refuse to deal with the group until it recognises Israel, renounces violence and accepts interim peace agreements.
There have been growing calls, however, for some level of engagement with the organisation since the Israeli invasion of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip earlier this year, which resulted in the deaths of some 1,300 Palestinians.
Mr Andrews, who called for the expulsion of Israeli ambassador Zion Evrony during the 22-day Israeli military offensive in Gaza in January, said the international community should no longer isolate Hamas. “They were elected so they have a mandate. They have to be part of any settlement. You cannot ignore them,” he said.
Mr Andrews and other members of the delegation referred to the example of the Northern Ireland peace process in their arguments in favour of including Hamas in talks.
The visit was described by Hamas on its website as a “step in the right direction”.
The Israeli embassy in Dublin, however, described the meeting with Mr Meshaal as “counterproductive and wrong”.
In a statement, embassy counsellor Nadav Cohen criticised the visit. “Firstly, the meeting undermines the position of the moderate Palestinian Authority leadership.
“Secondly, such a meeting gives legitimacy to a group recognised by the EU and US as a terrorist organisation dedicated also to the destruction of Israel,” he said.
“The calls of these parliamentarians for negotiations with an unreformed Hamas are thus based on misinformation and naivety.”
Instead of calling for talks in the absence of conditions set down by the international community, Mr Cohen continued, parliamentarians should “increase the pressure on Hamas to change its ideology and present policy, which constitute the real obstacle to peace”.