Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group is a bipartisan
All-Party Parliamentary Group of
Members of Parliament in the
Parliament of the United Kingdom. The group's Chairman is
Richard Burden, Vice-Chair is
Crispin Blunt, and secretary is
Brian Iddon.
Meeting with Hamas
Members of the PAPPG met with high-ranking Hamas officials in
Ramallah, the
West Bank, on
31 January 2007, violating British and
international law. The PAPPG meeting with Hamas followed in the precedents of the
European Union's contacts with Hamas as well as
Russia's and Germany's, and preceded Turkey's official contacts with Hamas.
The Independent wrote that following the meeting the PAPPG issued a report that "said that the international embargo had stripped Hamas of any real accountability for its performance to the Palestinian people, caused widespread misery and hardship among Palestinians, and forced the Hamas government to look elsewhere for support, including Iran."
The group planned to meet with Palestinian Foreign Minister and Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, but were unable to because of factional violence.
Press release
In a press release issued in April 2004, Burden called
United States President George W. Bush's support for Israeli withdrawal from contested territories an endorsement of "flagrant flouting of international law by Israel. Against this background, President Bush's claim that he still wishes to foster meaningful negotiations between the parties in accordance with the Road Map is meaningless twaddle."
References