Moussa renews Arab call for Hamas to recognize Israel

Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Amr Moussa on Wednesday renewed the call for the recognition of Israel by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), winner of the Jan. 25 Palestinian elections.

"The Arab initiative is the proper door for Hamas to recognize the peace process in general ... recognition by both parties of the two states," he told a European Parliament hearing in Brussels.

The 2002 Arab peace initiative envisages an Israeli withdrawal from all the territories it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war and the creation of an independent Palestinian state. In return, Arab states would agree to normalize relations with Israel.

Ten days ago, Moussa said that Arab states would persuade Hamas to accept the land-for-peace principle in an effort to end the destructive Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

He stressed that Hamas should be given a chance after winning the confidence of most Palestinians.

Moussa reiterated the peace call after a similar appeal by the so-called quartet of Mideast peace mediators, comprising Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.

The quartet urged Hamas to renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept existing agreements with Israel, including the "roadmap" peace plan, or face a cutoff in aid.

The AL chief did not support the halting of aid. He told European lawmakers that one way of encouraging Hamas to recognize Israel was to continue giving aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian government.

"Do you want to isolate Hamas or do you want to lure Hamas into your ranks ... Do you want to push Hamas or the new government to rigid positions or do you want an evolving position and stance?" Moussa asked in his speech to the European parliamentarians.

Moussa arrived in Brussels after foreign ministers of six Arab nations met Monday in Algiers to discuss a response to Israel, which announced Sunday it had halted the monthly transfer of 50 million U.S. dollars in tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority.

His trip to Europe was also to lay some of the groundwork for the Arab summit scheduled for March 28-29 in Khartoum, where Arab leaders will discuss the Palestinian issue and a proposal to establish an Arab Peace and Security Council.

Source: Xinhua