Hamas warns Blair that ignoring group will damage his credibility

Former British prime minister and the Quartet's special envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair speaking at a Quartet meeting in Lisbon on Thursday. (Reuters)

21 July 2007

Hamas warned Tony Blair on Saturday his credibility as the new international Mideast peace envoy will be damaged if he ignores the militant Islamist organization.

The former British prime minister was expected in Israel and the West Bank early next week in his maiden visit since his appointment as envoy of the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators - the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia.

"We warn the new envoy that any attempt to marginalize the Hamas movement will cost him his credibility," said Hamas hard-liner Mahmoud Zahar, a former Palestinian foreign minister.

Blair's mandate is limited to helping Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas build the Palestinian economy and infrastructure.

He also has been instructed to have no dealings with Hamas, which last month forcibly seized control of Gaza from forces of the Fatah movement loyal to Abbas.

The Quartet refuses to deal with Hamas because it refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence or accept agreements by previous Palestinian governments with Israel.

"That policy won't change to accommodate Blair," Zahar said. "We are not ready to sit with anyone calling on us to abandon our national constants and to foreswear the aspirations of the Palestinian people," he said.

After his first meeting with Quartet leaders Thursday, Blair said he will need all the optimism he can muster to "make headway in his new task, but I am determined to try."

Meanwhile, Hamas said it is replacing Gaza's defunct courts with a legal committee comprised of an Islamic law expert, a military court lawyer and the head of the main prison.

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