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08:51, July 22, 2007 |
Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, on Saturday denied any official contacts with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was appointed as a Middle East Quartet envoy.
"There has never been any direct talk with Blair neither when he was in office nor after he took the new job," Zahar said in a statement issued by Hamas media office.
He lessened Blair''s new role in the Middle East due to "his political experience in dealing with the Palestinian cause in particular and his attitude towards the Arab and Islamic world in general."
Zahar also criticized the envoy for "excluding Hamas from his agenda," saying this move will make Blair "losing his credibility as a mediator."
"Blair doesn''t have the key for Middle East solution... only the conflict sides and Israel hold the key," he added.
On June 27, the Middle East Quartet -- the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia, named Blair as their special envoy to help lay groundwork for an envisaged Palestinian state.
Blair waded into the role of the Middle East envoy at a Mideast Quartet meeting on Thursday in Lisbon, Portugal, announcing he would travel to the region soon.
He also brushed aside suggestions that his limited mandate as special envoy to the Quartet and the group''s refusal to deal with the hard-line Hamas movement would hamstring his mission.
Meanwhile, Zahar confirmed political channels between his Islamic movement and a number of European "decision-makers."
"They are consultants and aides to some new (EU) leaders who still maintain various contacts with all sides of the Palestinian people," Zahar said.
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