Four members of the British parliament met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal late Saturday, urging their government to end its boycott of the Palestinian group "to achieve just peace" as Israel and Hamas stepped up talks on prisoners' swap. "We need to talk to Hamas to make progress (toward peace) because they represent a big proportion of the Palestinians," Clare Short, an MP in the governing Labour Party, told reporters.Nobody's quite as usual a member of the usual suspects as Clare Short, unless it's George Galloway...
Britain, along with the European Union and the United States, has said there can be no dealing with Hamas until it recognizes Israel, renounces armed struggle and accepts interim peace accords.
Short said after meeting Meshaal in Damascus that opening up discussions with Hamas immediately would "move things forward in the hope that we in the end achieve just peace."