Ramon: Negotiations with Hamas defy government policy
Ramon: Negotiations with Hamas defy government policyVice premier first Israeli official to Israel holding direct talks with Hamas on ceasefire, Shalit, says negotiations in violation of policy stating that Islamist group must first recognize Israel, renounce terror. 'We are not fighting a terror organization, but rather the terror state of Hamastan,' he says
Roni Sofer
Latest Update: 05.19.08, 17:57 / Israel NewsIsrael officially admitted to holding talks with Hamas for the first time on Monday, with Vice Premier Haim Ramon saying that "the negations we are conducting with Hamas are in direct defiance of the government's resolution, according to which Israel would agree to talk to the Islamist group only after it accepts the conditions set by the Quartet."
The Quartet - US, Russia, EU and the UN – demands that Hamas recognize Israel, renounce violence and ratify past agreements and the road Map.
Up until now the cabinet claimed that the talks on a possible ceasefire and on the return of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit have all been conducted with Egyptian mediation so as not to breach the 'political siege' imposed on Ismail Haniyeh's government, since Hamas' violent takeover of the Strip in July 2007.
Once again the government of Israel violates either Israeli law or policy to talk with terrorist. First Oslo with Fatah and Arafat and now Hamas, we have Cowards,Scum and Traitors leading Israel.
