DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - NORWAY/ISRAEL/HOLY LAND: NORWAY & HAMAS MAY TALK

Envoys may talk with Hamas
By TOVAH LAZAROFF AND HERB KEINON

Norway intends to maintain contact with Hamas at the envoy level, but its ministers do not plan to meet with the Gaza government's representatives, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store has told The Jerusalem Post.

This policy had been widely misunderstood during his visit to Israel, included in the media, which mistakenly reported that Norway had cut off all ties with Hamas, after that group's violent split with Fatah in June.

Israeli officials, who had emerged from Store's meeting with President Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Monday believing that Norway would stop its contacts with Hamas, expressed dissatisfaction that the contact will continue, though not at the ministerial level.

One diplomatic source said Store's clarification that some Norwegian contact with Hamas would still take place was "disappointing."

Israel regards Hamas as a terrorist group bent on its destruction. Since June 2006 it has asked the international community not to normalize relations with Hamas until that group recognizes Israel, ceases terrorist activities and agrees to abide by past agreements.

"We think any recognition of Hamas is counterproductive," the diplomatic official said, and that it "pulls the rug out from under the legitimate Palestinian Authority government."

But Store, speaking with the Post at a Jerusalem hotel late Monday night, defended his country's position.

"Norway for 30 years has maintained a policy of keeping a broad network of contacts in this region" and kept up a dialogue with states or groups even when it disagrees with their policies, he said.

Store did not meet with Hamas officials on his two-day trip to Israel. But, he said, "If my [envoys] come across representatives from different groups [including Hamas], they are still allowed to make contact. I think it is wrong not to maintain contact to get the full picture of the situation."

Norway holds to this principle even though it has reason to be upset with Hamas, Store said. Norway was one of the architects of the Oslo Accords that defined Israeli-Palestinian relations in the 1990s.

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