Hamas must change ‘as in Irish peace process’

RUSSIA’S foreign minister yesterday called on Hamas to evolve into a political movement, comparing the process to that of the peace process in the North.

Sergei Lavrov, who spoke as Hamas leaders arrived in Moscow for a controversial visit, warned the Palestinian militant group that it must become an essentially political movement and its militant wing subsumed into recognised Palestinian “security structures”.

Mr Lavrov said Russia understood the change would take time, and compared it to the peace process in the North, where the IRA was gradually compelled to disarm and embrace a political process.