UK says open to talks with Hizbullah

[Scurrilous]

British government claims it reconsidered its position due to positive developments in Lebanon

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3681411,00.html

<snip>

"The British government is open to talks with the political wing of Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hizbullah, a minister said on Wednesday.

"We have reconsidered the position ... in light of more positive developments within Lebanon," Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell told a parliamentary committee. For that reason we have explored establishing contacts."

He said he was referring to the formation in July last year of a unity government in which Hizbullah and its allies hold effective veto power, as agreed under a deal that ended a paralyzing political conflict in the country.

"We will look to have further discussions and our overriding objective within that is to press Hizbullah to play a more constructive role, particularly to move away from violence," Rammell said.

A Foreign Office spokesman said the British government was exploring contacts only with Hezbollah's political wing.

Britain said last July it was adding the military arm of Hizbullah to its list of banned organizations."

[Alamuti Lotus]

1. Bold move, since they'll be running the gov't with Aoun/FPM this time next year........

Things are looking bad for Harari Inc, and it appears that the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc and Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement will be running things. What a bold move for England to take..

[bemildred]

2. The dam is busted.

Time to take stock of the real situation and be pragmatic.

[bemildred]

3. British to talk to Hezbollah

LONDON: Britain has overturned its policy on a central Middle East issue by agreeing to talk to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite movement, which opposes Israel and is still banned as a terrorist organisation by the US.

Bill Rammell, the British Foreign Office Minister, told MPs the British Government would authorise carefully selected contacts with the political wing of Hezbollah, which is represented in the Lebanese parliament. Other European Union states, including France, already deal with the group.

The move, which British diplomats have privately urged for some time, may be partially intended to encourage the US to follow suit as President Barack Obama's Administration pursues a new approach of engagement with parties shunned by the former president, George Bush.

Foreign Office officials said the decision would not create a precedent for talking to Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement in control of the Gaza Strip, although calls have multiplied recently for the Government to do just that.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/british-to-talk-to-hezbollah-20090305-8q0p.html

[LeftishBrit]

4. Since they are part of the Lebanese government, it makes no sense not to recognize them

Like many governments and parties, they are fairly nasty, but not recognizing them/talking to them won't make them stop existing.

[Scurrilous]

5. Dealing with Hamas: Can the U.S. Avoid It Much Longer?

<snip>

"British Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised the U.S. Congress on Wednesday to "work tirelessly with you for peace in the Middle East." But Britain clearly has some ideas of its own about how to move the process forward, and those ideas clash with the orthodoxies still in place in Washington. Even as Brown spoke on Capitol Hill, his government announced that it has scrapped its boycott of Hizballah, and would hold talks with the Iran-backed Lebanese Shi'ite movement, whose militia is on its — and Washington's — list of terrorist organizations. British Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell explained that "we have reconsidered the position ... in light of more positive developments within Lebanon," citing the formation last July of a unity government in Lebanon in which Hizballah and its allies have effective veto power.

The formation of that Lebanese government, of course, sealed the defeat of the Bush Administration's efforts to stand up a pro-Western government in Beirut that excluded parties allied with Syria and Iran. The U.S. strategy foundered on the fact that Hizballah and its allies enjoy wide backing in the communities from which they hail and have the military muscle to back them up in a fight. London has simply acknowledged that Hizballah is an intractable political fact in Lebanon, and therefore plans to engage it in an effort to encourage the group to pursue a more pragmatic course.

Britain's decision on Hizballah raises the obvious question for the more pressing matter of Israeli-Palestinian relations: Hamas, too, is an intractable political fact in the Palestinian territories, having established its primacy via both the ballot and (in the case of Gaza) the bullet. The U.S.-led boycott of the organization in the hopes of promoting peace with the Western-backed moderate Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is looking increasingly fanciful given Hamas' strength and the marginalization of Abbas among his own people. Britain appears cognizant of that reality. While Rammell stressed that Britain was not standing down from its refusal to talk directly with Hamas, it has begun to encourage others to do so on its behalf. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said last week in Cairo, "Egypt has been nominated ... to speak to Hamas on behalf of the Arab League but actually on behalf of the whole world. Others speak to Hamas. That's the right thing to do, and I think we should let the Egyptians take this forward."

The need to integrate Hamas into the peacemaking framework, as difficult as that may be given the barriers set by the U.S. and the Europeans, is fast becoming conventional wisdom among Middle East peacemakers. Former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israel's chief negotiator at Camp David in 2000, was among those who publicly declared two weeks ago, "Whether we like it or not, Hamas will not go away. Since its victory in democratic elections in 2006, Hamas has sustained its support in Palestinian society despite attempts to destroy it through economic blockades, political boycotts and military incursions. This approach is not working; a new strategy must be found."

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