SYRIA: Delegation of European parliamentarians meets Hamas leaders in Damascus

Record ID: 279169

  • Title: SYRIA: Delegation of European parliamentarians meets Hamas leaders in Damascus
  • Date: 15th March 2009
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (MARCH 14, 2009) (REUTERS) MEETING BETWEEN KHALED MESHAAL, HAMAS LEADER AND EUROPEAN DELEGATION BRITISH PARLIAMENTARIAN CLARE SHORT KHALED MESHAAL, HAMAS LEADER MEMBERS OF DELEGATION SHORT AND MESHAAL MEETING IN PROGRESS VARIOUS OF DELEGATION AT NEWS CONFERENCE REPORTER WRITING BRITISH PARLIAMENTARIAN CLARE SHORT TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH PARL
  • Embargoed: 30th March 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA1KNSTL6SQ7KJF7EFESGF5H05E
  • Story Text: A European Delegation that includes eight Parliamentarians from the United Kingdom, Scotland and Ireland met Hamas Leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus on Saturday (March 14), in the first announced visit of a European delegation to meet with Hamas leaders.
    British parliamentarian Clare Short told reporters that the purpose of the visit was to open up dialogue between European Parliamentarians and Hamas.
    "We're very clear that to make progress we need to talk to Hamas because they represent a big proportion of the Palestinian people. So we're trying by our visit to bring more and more parliamentarians to open up discussion with Hamas in order to move things forward in the hope that we can, in the end, get a just peace," she said during a news conference with Osama Hamdan, Hamas representative in Lebanon.
    Hamdan would not comment on possible progress about captured Israeli soldier Jelad Shalit. He said Hamas had clear conditions and demands concerning this matter.
    "In what concerns Shalit's issue, I do not think it is good to talk about any detail right now but the movement's position is clear. There are specific demands that Olmert and his successor have to understand very well. If the movement's demands are not responded - and that includes the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons - according to the conditions that were assigned and that everybody knows, there will not be a deal," he said.
    The delegation's visit to Syria comes as the United Kingdom announced its desire to communicate with Hizbollah. The delegation is expected to meet with Syrian officials and visit Palestinian camps in Syria.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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