Please allow me to change my spots.
Posted on 04/05/2006 12:33:46 PM PDT by knighthawk
STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - The European Union held out an olive branch to the Hamas-led Palestinian government on Wednesday, saying Europe did not want it to fail and it should be given a chance to change its attitude to Israel. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told the European Parliament that the 25-nation bloc had been disappointed by the government program put forward by the Islamist movement, but there was room for it to change.
"Right now, I stress -- I don't know what's going to happen in the future -- at the moment, we can't regard Hamas as an appropriate speaking partner.
"We can't do that until its views and positions change," he said. But he added: "The Union doesn't and shouldn't want the Hamas government to fail."
Hamas' charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the movement advocates armed struggle, including suicide bombings, although it has broadly observed a truce for the last year.
Solana said the EU wanted Hamas to respect principles put forward by the international community by recognizing Israel's right to exist, renouncing violence, accepting interim peace agreements and upholding the rule of law and pluralism.
"If that happens, then Hamas can be considered as a group of people with whom we can talk," he said.
The EU, as part of the "Quartet" of Middle East mediators, alongside the United States, the United Nations and Russia, has threatened to cut direct aid to the Palestinian Authority if Hamas does not change its stance.
It is reviewing what to do about aid already in the pipeline, an issue expected to be discussed by its foreign ministers at a regular meeting in Luxembourg next Monday.
"HAMAS CAN CHANGE"
"Everybody has to be given the possibility to change," Solana said. "We have to give them (Hamas) the opportunity, but we have to be very tough until the moment they change. We have to create the conditions."
"Hamas can't change its past, but it can and should change its future," he said.
He urged Israel to refrain from action that might jeopardize a Middle East solution, saying it could not achieve peace unilaterally, and said Arab states could and should do more from an economic and political standpoint.
"They can, for example try to get Hamas involved in the so-called Arab peace plan," he said. "If they could do, that would allow us to make certain progress."
Diplomats have said a Hamas acceptance of a 2002 Arab League peace initiative that offered conditional recognition of Israel if it withdrew from all territories occupied in the 1967 Middle East war could break the deadlock.
The EU has been the leading donor to the Palestinian administration, which Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Wednesday was now broke. Brussels and member states contribute 500 million euros ($610 million) a year.
Ping
Sorry, they've already had 25+ years...and nothing, nothing I have seen in that time gives me any reason to believe they are about to change. They are murdering, genocidal terrorists and they have now come to power in Palestine.
Oh, what a joke! How do we know when this "possibility" has been exhausted? By the body count of those they murder?
Give me a break. One of the fundamental underpinnings of Islam is "My god can beat up your god." If they truly acknowledge Israel's right to exist then they are acknowledging defeat. They (the whole Arab world) will not do this... ever.
No matter how much lipstick you put on it, a pig is still a pig.
All we are saaaaaaayin'
No arab state in Eretz Yisrael. EVER!
You must have beaten me by a nanosecond.
Please allow me to change my spots.
Allah’s Apostle said, "I have been made victorious with terror."
--- Statement by Mohammed in Bukhari V4B52N220
I shall terrorize the infidels.
--- Commanded by God in Koran 8:12
If you gain mastery over them in battle, inflict such a defeat as would terrorize them, so that they would learn a lesson and be warned.
--- Commanded by God in Koran 8:57
The Prophet said, "I have been given the keys of eloquent speech and given victory with terror."
--- Statement by Mohammed in Bukhari V9B87N127
If you come upon them, deal so forcibly as to terrify those who would follow, that they may be warned. Make a severe example of them by terrorizing Allah’s enemies.
--- Statement by Mohammed in Ishaq 326
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