British MPs Meet Hamas Politburo Chief in Syria

Source: Al-Manar TV, 15-4-2009

Hamas politburo Chief Khaled Meshaal met a group of visiting British lawmakers in Damascus for the second time in a month, the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement said on Wednesday.

The delegation headed by Labor MP Roger Godsiff held talks with Meshaal on Tuesday following a similar meeting with another group of British and Irish deputies in the Syrian capital last month in what is considered as the European openness towards the resistance groups in the region.

Meshaal accused the international community of failing to live up to its "moral and humanitarian obligations" by putting political conditions on reconstruction aid for the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

He told the visiting MPs on Tuesday that "foreign intervention undermines national Palestinian reconciliation," referring to the talks between Hamas and the rival Fatah faction of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose term ended on January 9.

Hamas and Fatah have held several rounds of reconciliation talks in Egypt aimed at creating a unity government to facilitate peace negotiations with "Israel" but discussions were suspended earlier this month to be resumed on April 23.

The Hamas statement quoted the British MPs as saying that peace in the region could not be accomplished without launching dialogue with the Islamic resistance group.

Meshaal - who lives in exile in Syria - also met a group of visiting Italian and Greek MPs last month.