Hamas slams German foreign minister's refusal to meet

Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle (4th R) stands in front of students during a visit to a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school in Gaza City November 8, 2010. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Militant group furious at snub from Guido Westerwelle during Gaza visit.


November 08, 2010 (KATAKAMI / HAARETZ) --- The Hamas administration in the Gaza on Monday slammed as "insulting" the refusal by German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle to meet it while visiting the strip. 

Senior Hamas leader and legislator Kamal Shrafi said that while the Islamist Palestinian movement welcomed a visit by an official of his standing, it was "completely wrong to come to Gaza and not meet with the legal government's representative." 

Westerwelle is the first German government official to visit the Gaza Strip in nearly four years. On Monday, he visited a girls' school and toured a water treatment plant. 

He said he would not meet Hamas over its repeated refusal to renounce violence, honour previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements and accept Israel's right to resist. Hamas, which has administered the Gaza Strip since June 2007, is subject to a Western diplomatic boycott. 

"We really condemn the refusal of officials and diplomats to hold talks with the Palestinian government, which was legally elected with transparency by the Palestinian people. Every official arriving in Gaza did not meet with anybody here, and this is really insulting," Shrafi said. 

Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, but a unity government set up with President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party was dismissed after Hamas militants routed security officials loyal to Abbas and the Palestinian Authority and seized full control of the enclave. 

Abbas also dismissed Hamas leader Ismail Haniya from his post of prime minister, a dismissal Hamas did not accept. 

"We are legal government, and I believe that it is completely wrong to come to Gaza and not meet with the legal government's representatives," Shrafi said. 

Westerwelle also met with Gaza businessmen Monday to discuss economic problems in the enclave, which has been under an Israeli blockade since the summer of 2006. 

At a press conference along with his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman in Jerusalem following his arrival on Sunday, Westerwelle called on Israel to allow exports to leave Gaza, saying such a move was "necessary." 

Israel imposed its blockade after militants from the enclave, led by Hamas, launched a raid in which they snatched an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who is still being held. 

The blockade was significantly tightened after the Hamas seizure of the Strip, but was eased in the summer of this year, although Israel still does not permit exports to leave.

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Germany's Foreign Minister called on Hamas to free captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, during a visit to the Gaza Strip

Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle (L) stands next to Noam Shalit, father of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, at the start of their meeting in Jerusalem November 7, 2010. Shalit was captured by Palestinian militants who tunnelled from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel in June 2006. (Getty Images / REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun )

November 08, 2010 (KATAKAMI / Jpost) --- Westerwelle says his country sees speedy return of soldier to his family as humane step; comments come a day after meetings with Noam Schalit, Lieberman, Shimon Peres in J'lem.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Monday called on Hamas to free captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, during a visit to the Gaza Strip.

He urged the terror group to "finally free this young man, after so many years in captivity."

He urged the terror group to "finally free this young man, after so many years in captivity." 

Westerwelle stressed that Germany views the speedy return of Schalit to his family as the humane step.

His comments came a day after a meeting with the soldier's father, Noam Schalit, as well as President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat in Jerusalem.

During a press conference after their Sunday meeting, Lieberman said that the biggest threat to the Middle East is Iran.

"Not only Iran with its nuclear problem, but Iran through its proxies in its terrorist activity in all our regions. We see Iranian activities through proxies in Lebanon through Hizbullah, in the Palestinian Authority through Hamas, their deep involvement in Iraq, in Yemen, in Somalia and, of course, this threat may be the biggest threat that we are facing as a Western society, as a free society in the modern world," Lieberman told his German counterpart.

He also said that while Israel has a "political dispute" with the Palestinians, it also has "very good cooperation with the Palestinians on the security level and on economy."

Westerwelle referred to Schalit, saying that Germany has an "abolultely clear position" that the soldier be "released very soon."

"We think that our Israeli friends know that they can count on us. And I do not want to comment any further because it is very important that we help the family, that we help this poor young man and that we see him as soon as possible, safe and healthy, back in the arms of his family," the German foreign minister said.  (*)