The British organization Forward Thinking affirmed on Friday that putting the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas on the European list of terrorist organizations constitutes an impediment to development relief reconstruction in Gaza and reconciliation among the Palestinian factions.
This came during a symposium in the British Parliament which discussed the report prepared by the organization. The report is the outcome of a workshop held in Paris in 2016 about the humanitarian needs in Palestine especially in Gaza and how to help meet them as well as the role of western politicians in ending the Palestinians’ suffering which is partially caused by the internal division.
The report stressed that the European governments must accept Hamas’s existence in the Palestinian political system because this “will achieve favorable conditions to solve the existing problems.” It added that Europe should push the PA president Mahmoud Abbas toward reconciliation by removing Hamas from the list of terrorism and supporting the Palestinian elections regardless of their results.
The symposium was attended by a group of British parliamentarians and politicians and a group of large charities that have relief and development projects in Palestine in general and Gaza in particular as well as representatives of the embassies of Jordan and Tunisia activists and other interested parties.
It also witnessed the participation of Palestinian figures of various Palestinian factions official representatives of a number of European countries and their consulates in Jerusalem and the French official in charge of the French government’s initiative which led to convening the Paris conference in 2016.
