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After Middle East Quartet envoy to the region Tony Blair said in in an interview to The Times that Hamas must be involved in the peace process, the movement and its leaders issues statements both denouncing Blair and drawing strength from his comments on Saturday.
Mushir al-Masri, chairman of the Hamas faction in the Palestinian Authority parliament said "Tony Blair's words prove that Europe and the world understand that all attempts to uproot Hamas and erase it from the Palestinian scene have failed, and that today we are the first and foremost power" representing Palestinians.
Echoing Blair, Masri said "the only gate into the Palestinian issue and its transformation into any agreement cannot occur unless through Hamas - a movement that cannot be ignored."
However, in a published statement, Masri said Blair's comments were "utterly foolish and useless." He said the sentiment the Quartet's envoy expressed to the Times was "a return to the same obstacles erected by the West, as an excuse to postpone Palestinian democracy, continue the siege of the Palestinian people, and grant the Zionist enemies the excuse to commit their crimes - the last of which was the Gaza war and the refusal to recognize the legitimate parliament and government of the Palestinians."
Masri added that "raising this suggestion [to involve Hamas in the peace process] testifies to Blair's stupidity and the stupidity of those who insist on this idiotic offer."
In an interview published in the Times Saturday, Blair said Hamas must be involved in the peace process in the Middle East.
The former UK prime minister said that in the past, the issue of the Gaza Strip had been neglected in an effort to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank. Such an effort, he was quoted as saying, "was never going to work and will never work."
"Yes, we do need to show through the change we are making on the West Bank that the Palestinian state could be a reality. The trouble is that if you simply try to push Gaza to one side then eventually what happens is the situation becomes so serious that it erupts and you deliver into the hands of the mass the power to erupt at any point in time," he surmised.
He did add, however, that Hamas must both renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist before it could be included in any talks.
"I do think it is important that we find a way of bringing Hamas into this process, but it can only be done if Hamas are prepared to do it on the right terms," the London-based paper quoted Blair as saying.
Blair warned that any such efforts must be made carefully, saying, "If you do this in the wrong way it can destabilize the very people in Palestine who have been working all through for the moderate cause".
"We do have to find a way of making sure that the choice is put before Hamas and the people of Gaza in a clear, understandable, unambiguous way, for them to choose their future. You have to find a way of communicating that choice to them in their terms. Now exactly what way you choose at the moment, that is an open question," he opined.
Hamas: Blair comments 'utterly foolish' | Middle East | Jerusalem Post
Mushir al-Masri, chairman of the Hamas faction in the Palestinian Authority parliament said "Tony Blair's words prove that Europe and the world understand that all attempts to uproot Hamas and erase it from the Palestinian scene have failed, and that today we are the first and foremost power" representing Palestinians.
Echoing Blair, Masri said "the only gate into the Palestinian issue and its transformation into any agreement cannot occur unless through Hamas - a movement that cannot be ignored."
However, in a published statement, Masri said Blair's comments were "utterly foolish and useless." He said the sentiment the Quartet's envoy expressed to the Times was "a return to the same obstacles erected by the West, as an excuse to postpone Palestinian democracy, continue the siege of the Palestinian people, and grant the Zionist enemies the excuse to commit their crimes - the last of which was the Gaza war and the refusal to recognize the legitimate parliament and government of the Palestinians."
Masri added that "raising this suggestion [to involve Hamas in the peace process] testifies to Blair's stupidity and the stupidity of those who insist on this idiotic offer."
In an interview published in the Times Saturday, Blair said Hamas must be involved in the peace process in the Middle East.
The former UK prime minister said that in the past, the issue of the Gaza Strip had been neglected in an effort to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank. Such an effort, he was quoted as saying, "was never going to work and will never work."
"Yes, we do need to show through the change we are making on the West Bank that the Palestinian state could be a reality. The trouble is that if you simply try to push Gaza to one side then eventually what happens is the situation becomes so serious that it erupts and you deliver into the hands of the mass the power to erupt at any point in time," he surmised.
He did add, however, that Hamas must both renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist before it could be included in any talks.
"I do think it is important that we find a way of bringing Hamas into this process, but it can only be done if Hamas are prepared to do it on the right terms," the London-based paper quoted Blair as saying.
Blair warned that any such efforts must be made carefully, saying, "If you do this in the wrong way it can destabilize the very people in Palestine who have been working all through for the moderate cause".
"We do have to find a way of making sure that the choice is put before Hamas and the people of Gaza in a clear, understandable, unambiguous way, for them to choose their future. You have to find a way of communicating that choice to them in their terms. Now exactly what way you choose at the moment, that is an open question," he opined.
Hamas: Blair comments 'utterly foolish' | Middle East | Jerusalem Post
