GAZA CITY, Sept 21, 2006 (AFP) - The Palestinian ruling Hamas movement said Thursday that a new position by major powers involved in Middle East peace process -- welcoming efforts on a unity government that would include the Islamists -- was a good step forward but still insufficient.
'The statement from the Quartet is a step forward, but it's not enough,' said Musheer al-Masry, a Hamas lawmaker and spokesman. 'We are waiting for and expecting the siege on the Palestinian people to be totally lifted with the formation of the national unity government.'
In New York Wednesday, the Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, United Nations and United States -- voiced their support for a bid by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to form a government with Hamas, although the group still refuses to recognize Israel.
The announcement appeared to mark a softening of Washington's tough stance on Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization.
Masry also criticized the decision by the four peace brokers to extend for three months temporary emergency aid for the Palestinian territories, instead of lifting a debilitating Western aid freeze imposed after Hamas took power.
'Extending the humanitarian assistance for three months without lifting the siege means the crisis will continue,' he said.
The Gaza economy has ground to a near complete halt given closures and Western aid boycotts, fuelling an unprecedented fiscal and political crisis that Palestinians hope can be stemmed by the creation of a unity government.
When asked whether Hamas would meet the Quartet's demands that it renounce violence, recognize Israel and abide past peace deals, Masry said the group remained committed to a national accord document signed by Palestinian factions in June.
The agreement calls for attacks against Israel to be confined to lands occupied in the 1967 Six Day War, and is viewed as an implicit recognition of the Jewish state.
Hamas leaders, however, have said that the document does not mean that they were recognizing Israel.