Brussels, 13/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - EU High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, affirmed on Tuesday that the Palestinian Islamic movement, Hamas, had to “disarm” in order to be taken off the black list of European Union terrorist organisations. He asserted that, “Hamas has to transform itself into a political party and begin to disarm”. This announcement was published on Tuesday in the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram. Solana added that, “a political party cannot have weapons, this does not exist in other democracies”. Asked about technical diplomatic contacts which, according to some sources, have recently taken place between the EU and Hamas (and sharply criticised by Israel), Solana explained, “the position of the European Union has not changed, we have placed Hamas on the list of terrorist organisations and there are no negotiations” with this organisation.
In other press reports, Mr Solana and the British presidency of the EU condemned Tuesday evening's terrorist attack in Netanya in the north of Tel Aviv. Mr Solana launched an appeal to the Palestinian Authority to arrest and bring those responsible for this action and that it improves security cooperation with Israel.