UN EXPERT TO QUARTET: RECOGNIZE HAMAS

UN expert to Quartet: Recognize Hamas (JPost)
UN Human Rights investigator Dugard says recognition is "indispensable" to peace.

An independent human rights expert called Tuesday for the United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union to fully recognize the Palestinian government - including Hamas members - as an "indispensable requirement" to peace.

John Dugard, the UN Human Rights Council's investigator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said the Mideast Quartet has to treat both sides equally if it wants to broker a successful peace agreement.

Israel has consistently rejected Dugard's reports and statements as one-sided. In March he compared the Jewish state's treatment of Palestinians to apartheid - comments that drew strong criticism from Israeli officials, who called them "inflammatory and inciteful."