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| Italy: Foreign Minister attacks Hamas, dismisses calls for negotiations |
| 2009-01-10 |
| (AKI) - Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini on Friday called the Islamist Hamas movement "a problem" and said the government would not enter into negotiations with it. "We cannot negotiate with Hamas," said Frattini during an interview aired on Italian television. Frattini also said that the movement was to blame for the current Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has claimed the lives of 770 Palestinians and 14 Israelis in the past two weeks. "Hamas unfortunately uses human shields and uses children and civilians for cover," Frattini said. Nevertheless, the foreign minister, who belongs to the conservative People of Freedom Party of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, said Italy would send a humanitarian convoy to Gaza as part of an aid package. In the medium term, Frattini said that a special session of the Group of Eight or G8 countries would be dedicated to conflicts in the region. The special session would also include what he called "moderate Muslim" countries, such as Egypt and Turkey. Israel continued its air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday despite the approval of a United Nations Security Council resolution that calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. |
| Posted by:Fred |