Olmert urges EU to push for Hamas disarmament

In his first meetings with senior foreign officials since taking over from coma-stricken Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Olmert told EU commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos that no difference should be drawn between the armed and political wings of Hamas.

The Islamist movement, behind the majority of attacks in the five-year Palestinian uprising, is fielding candidates for the first time in a January 25 legislative election when it is expected to at least loosen the ruling Fatah faction's stranglehold on power.

In his talks with external affairs commissioner Ferrero-Waldner, Olmert had "emphasized that, for Israel, it made no difference whether Hamas was in the parliament and/or government or not, it had to be disarmed in any case."

"Europe could play an important role in pressing the Palestinians to disband the terrorist organizations," added Olmert, according to a statement from his office on Tuesday.

In his meeting with Moratinos, Olmert told the Spanish diplomat, a former EU envoy to the region, that Hamas "is a terrorist organization and must be treated as such.

"It must disarm; on this issue there can be no compromise. The acting prime minister said that it was important for Abu Mazen (Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas) to deal with this immediately after the elections, according to a clear timetable."

The European Union placed Hamas on its blacklist of terrorist organisations two years ago but officials have recently admitted to meeting representatives of the organisation elected to municipal posts.

The 25-nation bloc is the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority and is also one of the four international sponsors of a peace plan known as the roadmap which targets the creation of a Palestinian state.

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