EU calls on Hamas to clarify political intentions

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
hanieh speaks 298.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
hanieh speaks 298.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
EU foreign ministers on Monday called on the Hamas to clarify its political intentions in an eventual Palestinian government, urging it to embrace peace efforts with Israel. The 25-member bloc is also questioning whether it can continue its multimillion euro (dollar) aid to a government that looks likely to be led by Hamas, a group that remains on an EU blacklist of terrorist groups. Hamas, meanwhile, called on the international community Monday not to cut aid to the Palestinian Authority. A meeting of EU foreign ministers will focus on how the EU will proceed after Hamas' electoral win last week, said Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency. "It is about reaffirming the principles of the EU, such as absence of violence, and a two-state solution," Plassnik told reporters at the start of the talks.