The President of France would secretly welcome any initiative to recognize Hamas.
WikiLeaks cables show that French President Nicolas Sarkozy has a different and more positive take on Hamas than the members of he Quartet.
Sarkozy is ready to have “international engagement with Hamas”, before the organization recognizes Israel, forswears terrorism and accepts previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.
The head of state in France believes not “engaging with Hamas”, hurts Fatah and the Palestinian Authority more than Hamas, according to a WikiLeaks document released late on Tuesday.
The document – a cable sent to US President Barack Obama from the US Embassy in Paris to prepare him for his first meting as president with Sarkozy in March 2009 – said that while Sarkozy agreed with ideals expressed in the Quartet principles on Hamas, he thought they hurt the PA and he “would welcome any initiative to repackage the Quartet principles.”
According to the cable, Sarkozy “allowed Foreign Minister [Bernard] Kouchner to propose that the EU take a less dogmatic approach on engaging Hamas – in a way that allows the international community to work with the next Palestinian government.”
The cable noted that Sarkozy saw “no credible alternative to Palestinian reconciliation,” meaning that at some point Hamas would probably be inside a PA government, and the world would need to engage it.
Despite Sarkozy’s position, however, the Quartet position remains intact and there is still no formal contact between the EU and Hamas.
Source: Jerusalem Post.
My comment:
The same debate took place before World War II. Men like Sarkozy was more willing to do “international engagement” with Nazi-Germany, while others felt that would be a major mistake.
Today’s elite in Europe seems to have no scruples, and rule without any stedfast principles. Sarkozy is a great example. His take is pragmatic, and even the most evil and corrupt Islamic terrorist organization will do for him, as long as it brings the beef.
