BRITISH MPs DEFY BAN, MEET WITH HAMAS

MPs defy ban on contact with Hamas. (UK Telegraph)
A group of British MPs held a private meeting with senior members of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian government in defiance of Britain’s ban on contact with the militant Islamic movement.

Five members of the Britain-Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group met ministers from the Hamas government last week during a visit to Ramallah.

British ministers and officials are banned from meeting members of the Palestinian cabinet because London categorises Hamas as an international terrorist group.

One of the group, Richard Burden, the Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield, defended the meeting on the grounds that opening dialogue with Hamas was the best way to make progress in the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process.