European Union foreign ministers meeting in Italy on Saturday declared that the political wing of Hamas was a terrorist organization following the group's claim of responsibility for the bus bombing attack in Jerusalem in mid August which killed 22 Israelis.
| Rantissi shot off his mouth at precisely the wrong instant. The Frenchies almost had it in the bag... |
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Friday called on the European Union to put Hamas and all its branches on the list of terror groups. Sharon made the request during a phone conversation with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. Sharon also called for stopping the flow of money to Hamas from Europe. Until this point, the European Union considered only Hamas' military wing, the Izzedin al-Kassam Brigades, as a terrorist group.
| On the polite theory that picking the target is a different matter from actually booming the target... |
The EU decision, which brings it in line with US and Israeli anti-terror poilicy, opens the way for the freezing of Hamas' financial assets and its leaders being placed on a global terrorist blacklist.
| Assuming the Euros are serious, expect Hamas to change its name soon, followed by a discreet transfer of funds... |
Despite earlier French objections to outlawing the Palestinian militant group, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters that "a consensus emerged to decide on putting Hamas on the list of terrorist organizations." Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said a group of intelligence services from member countries would on Monday start examining Hamas and then make recommendations about how to blacklist the organization, according to media reports from the EU meeting. "There is complete political agreement...but it is not for us (ministers) to put it on the list," he told reporters. "That is the so-called clearing house, a group of experts, which examine if a group of people should be on the list. It is their decision," he added.
| The intel guys will pick and choose the actual names and aliases to go on the list... |
"There was complete agreement that, given the outrage perpetrated by Hamas...on the 19th of August and which killed so many innocent people and for which there was no conceivable justification, we've taken a political decision to freeze the assets of Hamas and other actions," Biritsh Foreign Minister Jack Straw said Saturday.
| The problem the Paleos are facing at the moment is that the road map wasn't something Bush came up with out of his own head. It was the result of a year's worth of meeting with the Quartet that included the EU and the UN, as well as the Arabs. It was another Camp David-type thing that Israel partisans (see for instance Israpundit) hated — the very best deal they were going to get. Hamas blew that entire exercise in mulilateralism (and Yasser supported them all the way). Even the Frenchies weren't able to avert at least some consequences. All they'll be able to do now is keep them to a minimum. |
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