Why You Can Never Trust the French

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/world/europe/20france.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

PARIS ?- France confirmed on Monday that it has had contacts with the leaders of Hamas for several months to try to better understand the positions of the radical Islamic group that is running Gaza.

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner emphasized that there were no negotiations with Hamas, labeled a terrorist group by both the United States and the European Union.

"These are not relations, they are contacts," Mr. Kouchner said on Europe1 radio. "We are not the only ones to have them," he said. "We must be able to talk if we want to play a role."

Mr. Kouchner confirmed a report in the daily Le Figaro, quoting a retired French diplomat and former ambassador to Iraq, Yves Aubin de La Messuzière, saying that he had met a month ago in Gaza with Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister, and Mahmoud Zahar, among the most important Hamas leaders in the Palestinian territories.

The confirmation of contacts will anger the United States and Israel just days before Mr. Kouchner makes a visit to to the region which will includeBethlehem, in the West Bank. It will also displease the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, who has said that he will not talk to Hamas, which he accuses of carrying out a bloody coup in Gaza last June.

In Jerusalem, Arye Mekel, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, said his government had already raised the issue of this meeting "at the highest levels" of the French government and "received assurances that there is no change in the position of France vis-a-vis Hamas, and that it continues to adhere to the three conditions of the Quartet, namely, if Hamas wants to be acceptable as a partner, it must recognize the existence of Israel, stop terror, and accept all agreements signed in the past between Israel and the Palestinians."

Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the French meeting was part of a general softening in the European position toward Hamas. Various European officials, they said, feel uneasy about the European position because they are concerned that it is unrealistic and would like to formulate a new one. This meeting, they said, is part of those efforts.

Besides classifying Hamas as a terrorist organization which opposes Israel's right to exist, the administration of President George W. Bush believes that contacts with Hamas undermine Mr. Abbas and his appointed prime minister, Salam Fayyad, who favor negotiations for a permanent two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.

According to the account of Mr. Aubin de La Messuzière, however, his Hamas interlocutors told him nothing that they have not repeatedly stated in public. "They assured me that they were ready to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, which amounts to an indirect recognition of Israel," he said.

Hamas, however, has always said that such a Palestinian state could be established only if Israel pulled back from all land occupied in 1967, which Israel is not prepared to do. Hamas would not recognize the state of Israel in perpetuity - only live side by side with it for a temporary period, 10 to 15 years, in a "hudna," or truce.

Mr. Aubin de La Messuzière also said: "They said they were ready to stop suicide attacks and what surprised me is that the Islamist leaders recognize the legitimacy of Mahmoud Abbas."

His comments could appear naïve, because Hamas has always recognized the legitimacy of Mr. Abbas as the elected president of the Palestinian Authority and also his right, as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians. Hamas has also said that it believes such talks are useless.

Hamas has also had a largely effective ban on suicide bombings inside the post-1967 Israeli borders since August 2004, with a few incidents carried out by local cells. Hamas has been talking to the Egyptians, who have been trying to mediate a cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas for months to end rocket attacks on Israel, Israeli attacks and targeted killings in Gaza, and a release of prisoners, including Gilad Shalit, a young Israeli corporal captured in Israel and brought to Gaza in a Hamas-led operation on June 25, 2006.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, considered a supporter of Israel, will make an official visit there in June and will spend "several hours" in the Palestinian territories but will not talk to Hamas representatives, Mr. Kouchner said.

The European Union said it will continue to maintain its ban on formal contacts with Hamas.

Mr. Kouchner said he found Hamas was "more flexible than before" but still unwilling to recognize the state of Israel. He did not elaborate.

Hamas leaders like Mr. Haniyeh and his adviser, Ahmed Youssef, have regularly said that they would like to have good relations with West European countries, whom they regard as more sympathetic to their positions than Washington. Their implicit desire is to split the United States and Europeans on the issue.

French officials, frustrated by the lack of progress between Mr. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, have been raising the possibility of talks with Hamas or a new unity government between Fatah and Hamas ?- something that Israel, Mr. Abbas and the United States have firmly opposed.

A new American president may have other views, but so far, all three main American presidential candidates have said that they will continue the Bush administration's ban on discussions with Hamas until the group meets previously agreed upon criteria: recognition of the right of Israel to exist, acceptance of previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements and an end to violence. That stand has been agreed upon by Israel and the so-called quartet for Middle East peace, consisting of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

Hamas has said it cannot agree to all three conditions. And clearly the joint Western stand is fraying.