By Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens
Imagine this scene: One of the senior leaders of a movement the European Union has designated a "terrorist entity," and that for the last two decades has based a good part of its military strategy on attacking civilians; that has repeatedly heightened the prospect of conflict whenever there has been an increased probability of peace; and that has a founding Charter effectively advocating the elimination of a United Nations member state, is allowed to address the government of a European nation in the heart of its democratic institutions, with no strings attached.
This may sound implausible, but it is precisely what would have taken place on April 22 in the British Parliament, had a technical fault not intervened to prevent it. Khaled Meshaal, the Damascus-based head of Hamas' Political Bureau, was due to address an audience of British parliamentarians and field questions via video-link. To the great embarrassment of the organizers, this could not be established. The organizers included Labor MP Clare Short and Lord Alderdice, the latter also a board member of the British non-governmental organization Conflicts Forum, which, according to its website, aims to shift the debate on Islamism toward a "positive assertion of Islamist values and thinking." Read more ...
Imagine this scene: One of the senior leaders of a movement the European Union has designated a "terrorist entity," and that for the last two decades has based a good part of its military strategy on attacking civilians; that has repeatedly heightened the prospect of conflict whenever there has been an increased probability of peace; and that has a founding Charter effectively advocating the elimination of a United Nations member state, is allowed to address the government of a European nation in the heart of its democratic institutions, with no strings attached.
This may sound implausible, but it is precisely what would have taken place on April 22 in the British Parliament, had a technical fault not intervened to prevent it. Khaled Meshaal, the Damascus-based head of Hamas' Political Bureau, was due to address an audience of British parliamentarians and field questions via video-link. To the great embarrassment of the organizers, this could not be established. The organizers included Labor MP Clare Short and Lord Alderdice, the latter also a board member of the British non-governmental organization Conflicts Forum, which, according to its website, aims to shift the debate on Islamism toward a "positive assertion of Islamist values and thinking." Read more ...
Source: Daily Star
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