EU Official Surprises

Surprise? A refreshing surprise.

EU commissioner hits out at Hamas on Gaza tour

JABALIA, Gaza Strip (AFP) — A senior EU official touring Gaza on Monday blasted the "abominable" destruction in the enclave and said its "terrorist" Hamas rulers bear overwhelming responsibility for the war.

"It is abominable, indescribable," Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, told reporters in Gaza after touring some of the areas worst hit in Israel's deadly 22-day assault on the territory.



"At this time we have to also recall the overwhelming responsibility of Hamas," he said. "I intentionally say this here -- Hamas is a terrorist movement and it has to be denounced as such.

"In order for the EU to relaunch a political dialogue with a minimal chance of succeeding and a chance of moving forward towards peace, Hamas must accept the two little conditions that were put to it -- one, the right of Israel to exist and two that it abandon the armed struggle, the terrorist dimension of its approach."

..."One cannot hold discussions with a terrorist movement which uses terrorism as a means," he said. "We cannot accept that the manner in which Hamas behaves be confused with resistance. When one kills innocent civilians, it is not resistance, it is terrorism," he told journalists in Gaza City.

Blasting the scale of destruction in Gaza, Michel said the European Union, the main donor to the Palestinians, was sick of paying for the same infrastructure that is destroyed over and over again.



"Public opinion is fed up to see that we are paying over and over again -- be it the (European) commission, the member states or the major donors -- for infrastructure that will be systematically destroyed," said Michel.