International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, September 16, 2002

Senior European Union officials recently met in Beirut with representatives of the militant terror group Hamas, Palestinian Authority cabinet minister Nabil Shaath revealed this week.

"We have been told by the Europeans about the meetings with Hamas leadership abroad, especially in Beirut," Shaath told the PA's official newspaper, Al-Ayyam, on Monday.

"The Europeans have asked us not to talk about their meetings with Hamas," he added. "But they were very happy with the new positive positions of Hamas vis-a-vis the peace process."

In language deliberately designed to discredit the terror group in the eyes of their militant supporters, Shaath went on to indicate that US officials were also meeting with Hamas, who are currently engaged in a violent standoff with PA security forces in the Gaza Strip.

"We have some information on this matter, but not from the brothers in Hamas," Fatah figure Zakariya al-Agha confirmed. "We are aware of a dialogue that is taking place between Hamas and the EU."

These "revelations" are further evidence of the breakdown between the Palestinian political leadership and key terrorist factions within the disputed territories. They have also been seen as part of a campaign waged by Yasser Arafat’s Fatah Party against Hamas following the assassination of Col. Rajeh Abu Lihyeh, head of the PA's anti-riot police in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas denies any involvement in the assassination -- a revenge attack by the family of a Hamas man killed by Palestinian riot police during a demonstration in Gaza last year. But Hamas has failed to condemn the murder of the PA police chief or turn over the suspects to the PA, risking a further escalation of Palestinian infighting in Gaza.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Abdul Aziz Rantisi strongly denied that his movement is involved in talks with European and American officials. "These statements are part of the campaign being waged against Hamas," he told reporters in Gaza.