EU ministers agree to ban Hamas and freeze assets

EU foreign ministers drew closer to the US position on the Middle East and Iraq at a two-day meeting in Italy over the weekend.

The ministers united among themselves and with the US in agreeing to ban the political wing of Hamas, the Palestinian organisation. France, which had been holding out against this action, agreed to the ban which was linked to a flurry of activity to restart the Middle East peace process.

However, the discussion on Iraq was very low-key, with ministers agreeing to leave the issue, which has been deeply divisive in the past, to the UN Security Council and the four EU members that sit on it France, Britain, Spain and Germany.

The ban on Hamas groups and possibly of its six top leaders was seen as a concession to the Americans in the hope of getting them to agree to greater international and UN involvement in Iraq.

Exactly who and what groups will go on the banned list and so have their assets frozen will be decided by the so called clearing house EU member state intelligence representatives at a meeting in Brussels today.

The news of the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas reached the ministers as they discussed the Hamas ban and turned the situation into an immediate emergency.

EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana was dispatched to the Middle East immediately after the meeting to see how he could help.

The ministers agreed to call for an emergency meeting of the Quartet USA, Russia, the UN and the EU responsible for the Middle East peace initiative. They hope the four can meet in New York on September 22.

A number of countries, including France and Ireland, were at pains to appear even-handed in their approach to the Middle East and censured both Israel and the Palestinians for the failure of the peace process.

Foreign Minister Brian Cowen stressed the need for the Israelis to stop their political assassinations as well as for the Palestinians to fulfil their promises on security and clamping down on terrorism.

"There have been target assassinations of Hamas personnel daily since the end of the ceasefire including those who would be regarded as being on the more moderate side of Hamas. This is no way to try to revive the peace process in the Middle East," he said.

However the resignation of Mr Abbas highlighted one flaw in the process, the requirement that the responsibility for security rests with one authority, while Palestinian law says part must remain with the president, Yassar Arafat. Mr Cowen said this situation needed to be resolved. He emphasised that the problem was not just one of security but also of politics. "The EU has emphasised an inclusive comprehensive solution with politics going hand in hand with security."

The ministers agreed that Hamas could be rewarded for returning to a ceasefire with elements of the political body being removed from the ban list. "In the circumstances of the ending of the ceasefire, I believe there should be a signal sent by the EU as to why this is not acceptable, but also maintaining a political perspective that if people revert to a ceasefire clearly we want to encourage political leadership of all groups to be part of the solution to this problem.

"That is the lesson of our own peace process and I think that experience of the peace process is just an observation I would make to colleagues while in no way suggesting that one would be soft or ambivalent about the unacceptability of terrorist acts or violence from any side."

On Iraq, all ministers were anxious not to complicate the delicate situation. Government leaders have stated their positions on the US-sponsored draft UN resolution to involve the international community in peacekeeping and reconstruction in Iraq.

According to diplomats, relations between British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepain appeared very warm.