Israel stressed on Tuesday it would be a "big mistake" for the international community to try and hold talks with Hamas. According to Reuters, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was responding to calls from Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and British MPs for dialogue with Hamas.
"I know that it looks tempting and I know that the international community is eager to see a kind of an understanding between Hamas and Fatah," Livni told a news conference with visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso.
"This is wrong. This is a mistake. Big mistake. Huge," Livni said.
According to Livni, the international community's role was critical and "any compromise with terror, any compromise with these extremists, can lead to undermining the new government in the Palestinian Authority."
"The idea is that now there is a chance in the dialogue between Israel and the new Palestinian government. We can reach something. It's there," Livni said.
