Mesha'al to address British MPs over video conference

Date: 21 / 04 / 2009 Time: 10:38
Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies –

Senior Hamas leader Khaled Mesha'al will address British MPs on Tuesday in an unprecedented video conference from Damascus.

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the event was arranged by MP Clare Short, who recently visited Mesha'al at his office in Damascus along with other lawmakers.

Short extended personal invitations about a week ago to dozens of MPs to attend the video conference, to be broadcast to a meeting room in a parliament office building, Haaretz reported.

The Israeli embassy in London tried unsuccessfully to organize a campaign to cancel the event.

An increasing number of European lawmakers have meet Mesha'al in recent months in a possible sign of a change in official attitudes toward Hamas. The movement is still considered “terrorist organization” by the European Union, and is officially shunned by much of the international community.

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