MPs urge talks with Hamas

Senior MPs have said that the government should speak to Hamas in a bid to promote peace in the Middle East.

The Commons foreign affairs committee said the decision not to speak to the democratically elected Hamas government in 2007 has been counterproductive.

It concluded that a national unity government could and should have been established sooner in the Palestinian territories.

And active support for the establishment of a national unity government in Palestine should be a key UK objective, the committee concluded.

"Given the failure of the boycott to deliver results, the government should urgently consider ways of engaging politically with moderate elements within Hamas as a way of encouraging it to meet the three Quartet principles," said the MPs.

"Any attempts to pursue a 'West Bank first' policy would risk further jeopardising the peace process."

The committee welcomed the appointment of Tony Blair as the Quartet representative and recommended that the former prime minister engages with Hamas in order to facilitate reconciliation amongst Palestinians.

They say that the unwillingness of the Quartet to challenge the failure by both Israel and the Palestinians to meet their obligations has undermined its usefulness as a vehicle for peace.

However, the committee recommended that whilst the process of the "roadmap" has failed, its objectives - an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state peacefully co-existing with a secure Israel - must remain the basis for a solution to the conflict.