The United States and Israel must change policy towards Hamas and engage the Palestinian movement if progress is to be made on peace in the Middle East, a group of former peace negotiators said on Thursday. Writing in Britain's Times newspaper, 14 former foreign ministers and peace negotiators said the three-year policy under which Hamas has been rejected by the international community had backfired and needed to be changed.
"There can be no meaningful peace process that involves negotiating with the representatives of one part of the Palestinians while simultaneously trying to destroy the other," wrote the signatories, who include Britain's Paddy Ashdown, a former negotiator in Bosnia, and Michael Ancram, who helped broker peace with the IRA in Northern Ireland.
But the group was immediately cut off by Israel, the United States and the European Union, which regard it as a terrorist organisation.
The letter's signatories said Israel's recent war against Hamas in Gaza Strip had "demonstrated that the policy of isolating Hamas cannot bring about stability". "Bringing Hamas into the process does not amount to condoning terrorism or attacks on civilians," the letter said.
"It can strengthen pragmatic elements and their ability to strike the hard compromises needed for peace."
The letter is published ahead of a visit to the region by George Mitchell, the newly appointed U.S. envoy to the Middle East, and Javier Solana, the European Union's envoy.
On Wednesday, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said, according to Reuters, that talking to Hamas was the "right thing to do" but Egypt and other parties were best placed to do so.
