Israeli official meets Hamas lawmakers - report

Motti Zaken, an adviser on Arab affairs at the Internal Security Ministry, discussed with the lawmakers their political views, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily said, quoting unnamed sources from Hamas, which now heads the Palestinian government.

The newspaper quoted a ministry official as saying Zaken had met with some of 2,200 prisoners held at two jails, among them Hamas legislators, "to assess their mood".

It was the first such reported contact between an Israeli official and Hamas.

Israel has jailed about a dozen Hamas members of parliament over alleged security offences. Hamas won 74 seats in the 132-member legislature in the January 25 Palestinian election.

Asked about the report, ministry spokesman Yehuda Maman said Zaken had met with "security prisoners" about two weeks ago "as part of his professional work". He declined to elaborate.

Israel, backed by the United States and European Union, has blocked a flow of funds to the Hamas-led government since March in a bid to force it to renounce violence, and to recognise the Jewish state and past interim peace deals.

Hamas's charter calls for Israel's destruction and the group says talks with the Israeli government would be a waste of time.

All but Russia have also refused any diplomatic contacts with Hamas officials, though Mahmoud al-Zahar, the Palestinian Foreign Minister from Hamas, said Sunday he had met a European foreign minister during a recent tour of Arab countries.

Zahar would not say with whom he had met. But a European diplomatic source cast doubt that such a meeting had occurred.

European countries have also begun to challenge a U.S.-backed freeze on funds to the Hamas-led government, which some fear has brought the Palestinian Authority close to collapse.

Middle East power brokers of the Quartet were to convene at the United Nations on Tuesday to discuss paying Palestinian Authority workers who haven't received salaries since March.

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