The United Nations said it has ended its policy of unrestricted political contacts with the Palestinians and will now assess every request for political talks with the new Hamas-run government.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said ‘working contacts’ between the UN and the new Palestinian government will continue to ensure that there is no disruption in the delivery of humanitarian aid and services to the Palestinian people from a number of UN agencies.
‘The issue of political contacts, above and beyond the humanitarian assistance, will be dealt with as they arise ... On a case by case basis,’ he said.
The new UN policy follows bans on contacts with Hamas by Israel, the United States and the European Union, which consider the militant Islamic group a terrorist organization.
Dujarric said there has been ‘a lot of confusion among UN officials on the ground, as to what sort of contacts, at which level, they could have with the Hamas government’ and the new policy was meant ‘to bring some clarity.’
‘This is a position that has been evolving since the election of the Hamas government,’ he said. ‘There's a different situation on the ground and the way we interact with the actors on the ground is obviously different.’
While Annan has called for the results of the Palestinian election to be respected.