Special to WorldTribune.com

GAZA CITY — Hamas plans to renew efforts to establish
diplomatic and other relations with the West.

Hamas leaders said Arab allies were lobbying the European Union and
United States to establish ties with the Islamist regime in the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas leaders said the focus was for Western nations to remove Hamas from their list of organizations deemed terrorist.

“It is unreasonable for Western countries to support Islamist regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and continue to boycott Hamas, spawned from these Islamist movements, and keep it on the terror list,” Ahmed Yousef, a leading Hamas operative, said.

“There are contacts [being] made by the movement, with the help of Arab and Islamic countries such as Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, to convince major and European countries to take Hamas’s name off the terror list,” Yousef said.

The Hamas campaign was launched amid its first sustained ceasefire with Israel.

Since the Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire was arranged in November
2012, there has been a handful of rocket and missile attacks from the Gaza
Strip.

Still, Israel has reported a Hamas campaign to abduct soldiers and
civilians. The Israel Security Agency said the plot was directed by Hamas
Interior Minister Fathi Hamad.

Hamas has argued that the ceasefire demonstrated its commitment to
regional stability. But Hamas leaders said they rejected Western proposals
to recognize Israel in exchange for a relationship with the EU.

“Despite the requirement of the international quartet [for us] to
recognize Israel in order to take Hamas off of the terror list, we will not
recognize this condition,” Yousef said on March 11.

  Ahmed Yousef, Fathi Hamad, Gaza Strip, Hamas cites U.S. ties with Egypt in bid to be removed from terror list, Israel Security Agency