The influential House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee this week called for the UK government to talk to Hamas, and in so doing end the international embargo on dealing with the organisation.
In its report on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which sparked expressions of concern from Jewish leaders, the committee also criticised Israel’s reaction to rocket attacks from Gaza as disproportionate.
Committee chairman, Labour MP Mike Gapes, usually considered a strong but not uncritical supporter of Israel at Westminster, said that the policy of rejecting contacts with Hamas — adopted by the diplomatic Quartet of the UN, the EU, Russia and America — blocked the path to peace.
He and his colleagues believed the government should urgently consider engaging with moderate elements within Hamas.
