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France Tells Of Hamas Talks

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The Washington Post

Published: May 20, 2008

PARIS - France has had contacts with the leaders of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas "for several months," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday.

"We must be able to talk if we want to play a role," Kouchner said. "These are not relations, they are contacts."

Kouchner's remarks followed the publication Monday of an interview with France's emissary to Hamas - a former ambassador to Iraq - in the daily newspaper Le Figaro.

The disclosure of French contacts with Hamas, which the United States and European Union consider a terrorist organization, followed an uproar in the U.S. presidential campaign over the issue of government contacts with sponsors of terrorism.

President Bush, during a Middle East visit last week, told the Israeli parliament, "Some seem to believe we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along." He compared the willingness to meet with "terrorists and radicals" to the pre-World War II "appeasement" of Nazi Germany.
Democratic presidential candidate Barak Obama chastised Bush for what he said was an obvious slap at his comments that the United States should open lines of communication with countries such as Iran and Syria in an effort to advance peace. The Illinois senator has not advocated negotiating with Hamas.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter drew criticism from Israel and the Bush administration for meeting with Hamas leaders in Damascus, Syria, last month.

Regarding the French contacts, Israeli officials said they had been assured that France's policy had not changed.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, "We don't believe it is helpful to the process of bringing peace to the region."

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