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Following Blair’s comments, Hamas calls for cancelling condition to recognise Israel

October 16, 2017 at 2:31 pm

After former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the international community was wrong to do as Israel wanted to isolate Hamas, the movement has called for the condition that it recognise Israel before being included in negotiations to be retracted, the Safa news agency reported.

On Twitter, member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, Mousa Abu-Marzouk also called on the international community to alleviate the inhumane suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel’s oppressive siege.

In an interview with the British newspaper, the Guardian, Blair said that he, along with world leaders, had committed a mistake when they came under Israeli pressure and did not recognise Hamas’ victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections.

“In retrospect, I think we should have, right at the very beginning, tried to pull [Hamas] into a dialogue and shifted their positions,” the Guardian newspaper reported Blair saying.

Hamas: Everyone has the right to arm themselves to resist the occupation

Blair strongly supported the US driven boycott of Hamas which was immediately put in place after it won the elections in 2006, when Israel imposed a strict siege, which is still in place.

The siege, along with three Israeli offensives, made Gaza “unlivable” according to a UN report said.