Roger Godsiff MP meets with Hamas Leadership
Posted by Roger Godsiff, MP for Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath, at 09:48, Fri 8 May 2009:
During a Parliamentary visit to Syria from 12th to 19th April Roger Godsiff led a delegation of MPs to meet with Khalid Meshaal, who is the Chief of the Political Bureau of Hamas.
Said Roger “At the meeting, where I was accompanied by MPs from both the Labour and Conservative Party, we had the opportunity of listening to the official views of Hamas on both the current situation in Gaza and the West Bank and their ideas about how the way forward in the region was, in their opinion, likely to evolve. All Parliamentarians who attended also took the opportunity to question Khalid Meshaal about Hamas policy and the recent events surrounding the invasion of Gaza by the Israeli army.
We have to deal with the reality of the world as it is, including the Middle East, and this means that there needs to be engagement and dialogue with Hamas even if we disagree with them on any, or all, of their policies or actions. Hamas was elected as the majority party in Gaza and international observers confirmed that these elections were properly conducted. Elections have recently taken place in Israel and the democratic process in that country has delivered a Government consisting of certain parties and individuals who many people in other parts of the world may not like or agree with. The only alternative to engagement and dialogue is to accept that conflict will continue and the main sufferers will be ordinary Palestinians and Israelis most of whom want to see a just and fair settlement in the region, which will meet the legitimate demands of the Palestinian people and will also give lasting security to the people in Israel
Roger Godsiff also met with Syrian President, Bashir al-Assad on the recent visit to Syria organised by the Syrian Society. April 2009.
Comments
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Posted by Ashok Patel, 16:23, Fri 8 May 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
Dear Mr Godstiff How nice you meet the leaders of Hama, are they going to stop their bombing and hijacking UN supplies? Also, have they stopped killing members of Fatah, or who they 'think' helped the Isreal? Are they going to spent all the money they get from their muslim friends on weapons again?
And if you have some time, how about sorting out problems at home afterall that's why someone voted for you? LDV would be a good start and then getting the 'Gurkha's' the right to stop here because they are loyal, honest, hard working and all the public are on their side.
Gordon Brown, fantastic man, he needs your support. Before you sort other countries problem sort OUR OWN PROBLEMS first.
Posted by Kevin Edwards, 18:05, Mon 11 May 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
Commons Speaker angry over expenses leak? Commons speaker Michael Martin defends calling in police over the expenses leak, as he admits public trust has been damaged.
If public trust has been damaged, it has certainly been betrayed by those who are not worthy of their trust!
JUST WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE FOOLING?!
OUR MONEY IS NOT YOURS!
Posted by Dr. Susan Blackwell, 23:58, Sat 23 May 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
I would like to congratulate Mr. Godsiff on this courageous step. I only hope that the Labour candidates for the European Parliament will take the same position and state publicly that Hamas, as the democratically-elected government of Palestine (all of it by the way, not just Gaza), HAS to be involved in any future negotiations. Hamas has never attacked a Western country - it is ridiculous for it to be listed as a "terrorist" organisation by the US and EU.
So much is said about Gilad Shalit, the one Israeli prisoner in Gaza, who was captured while on active duty as a serving soldier in the army of occupation. What about the hundreds of Palestinian elected politicians - members of Parliament and local councillors - who have been held for months or even years in Israeli jails without ever being accused of, let alone tried for, any crime? These are non-violent civilians, unlike Shalit: their only crime is to have stood for election on a Hamas platform (and they are not even all actual members of Hamas).
So let's have less hypocrisy and more honesty from our political leaders on this subject. Thank you Roger Godsiff and please continue to speak publicly about your visit - please don't be intimidated by the predictable hysteria from the Israel lobby, who sadly are not interested in peace let alone peace with justice.
Posted by Ashok Patel, 21:27, Sun 24 May 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
Dr Blackwell The reason that Hama was voted in was that paid people to vote for it, the money was sent via Iran in cash. Hama has the stated aim of destroying Isreal, the killing of women and children has never crossed it's mind. The only reason Mr Godstiff speaks for them is it increase his own power base amongst the muslims in his ward. He was voted for by the citizens of his ward to lokk after their interest.