Blair Caves In To Another Middle Eastern Rouge State

First Blair gave in to Islamofascist Iran, now he is doing the same with Iran's terrorists clients, Hamas in Palestine.

GAZA (Reuters) - Britain held on Thursday its first talks with a leader of the Islamist Hamas group, sending a diplomat to meet Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to discuss efforts to free a BBC journalist abducted in Gaza.

A British diplomat said Jerusalem Consul-General Richard Makepeace, who came to Haniyeh's Gaza office, would "just discuss the kidnapping" and the talks were not a departure from the European Union's policy of shunning Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group.

BBC correspondent Alan Johnston was abducted from his car on March 12. He has been held captive longer than any of the several foreign journalists who have been seized, and subsequently released, by gunmen in the Gaza Strip.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the kidnapping nor public word on Johnston's fate despite pledges by the new Palestinian unity government to find him.

A senior Israeli official said the meeting undermined U.S. and Israeli efforts to isolate Hamas and could send the message to the Islamist group that it could gain ground diplomatically if foreigners were abducted.

"This undermines our policy and opens the door to further abductions," said the official, who declined to be identified.

Israel wants Western powers to maintain their boycott of the unity government that Hamas formed with the secular Fatah faction last month.

Hamas has not met demands by a Quartet of Middle East peace mediators -- the United States, the EU, the United Nations and Russia -- to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.

The United States, in a rare break with Israel, has said it would hold unofficial contacts with non-Hamas ministers. Britain and some other European countries have taken a similar line.

Western diplomats said there had been an understanding since Hamas came to power in March 2006 that their no-contact policies could be relaxed in extreme cases such as kidnappings.

In Gaza, guards at the President Mahmoud Abbas's compound fired in the air as about 60 local journalists held a protest march to demand authorities do more to bring about Johnston's release and assure the media can work safely in the territory.

No one was hurt, and the chief of the presidential guard later said he ordered the arrest of those who opened fire.

Addressing the journalists after his own meeting with Haniyeh, Abbas said: "We will not delay and we will not rest until this journalist friend is released to his family, and we will make certain such an incident is not repeated."

Blair loves terrorists, just ask Gerry Adams and the Sinn Féin Provisional IRA!