Italy's parliament speaker to address Palestinian lawmakers

Speaker of Italy's parliament Fausto Bertinotti will address the Hamas-led Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), or parliament, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 9, Palestinian government spokesman said on Tuesday.

"This speech is a political gesture to emphasis the practical steps of the initial stance of lifting the siege on all Palestinian institutions that were elected democratically," Mustafa al-Barghouti, who is also the information minister, told a news conference.

Al-Barghouti said the PLC would convene in Gaza city and Ramallah via video conference at 1300 GMT Wednesday to hear the speech.

The Italian parliament speaker, who is currently in Ramallah for a visit, would be the first Westerner to address the PLC since its 132 members were elected in January 2006. About 75 of them are members of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

Al-Barghouti further revealed that Bertinotti's speech will call on Israel to release Hamas lawmakers, including Aziz Dwaik, the speaker of the Palestinian parliament.

Israel arrested West Bank Hamas lawmakers last summer when Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip.

The spokesman said Bertinotti will also urge the world to deal with the Palestinian unity government, while the United States leads an international campaign to isolate the ruling Hamas.

The international Quartet of Middle East peace mediators, which groups the United States, the UN, the EU and Russia, has asked Hamas to recognize Israel, give up violence and observe peace deals to get the siege lifted.

In a recent interview with the London-based Arabic newspaper al- Hayyat, Bertinotti has described Hamas movement as "a legitimate one because it won legislative elections a year ago."

"I accepted the invitation to address the PLC because I consider any political movement winning elections as a legitimate movement," Bertinotti told al-Hayyat daily.

Source: Xinhua