URGENT All party and cross bench group of peers criticise Lord Alderdice's invitation to Hamas leader Khalid Mash'al to address MPs and peers on live video at Portcullis House today

Dear Colleague

As you may be aware, Lord Alderdice has recently circulated an invitation among Parliamentarians to an event today at Portcullis House, featuring a video link appearance by Khaled Mash'al, Chief of the Political Bureau of Hamas, "to explain Hamas's position and answer questions".

Lord Alderdice's invitation asserts that "most serious commentators now believe that there can be no peace in the Middle East without talking to Hamas". It may be well to consider the validity of this claim -- and the wisdom of extending a parliamentary audience to Mash'al.

In particular we wish to draw your attention to the following:

·         The apparently one sided presentation of the issues in the invitation to listen to Mash’al totally overlooks very grave violations of human rights by Hamas – including murders and maimings of political opponents -- as outlined in Human Rights Watch report on Gaza issued yesterday.

·         Khaled Mash'al advocates suicide bombings in Israel and Iraq. In a June 2002 interview on Al-Jazeera, he maintained that children should be "ideologically, religiously and spiritually" trained from an early age for suicide missions, to make their participation "efficient". Further, "the suicide-attack trainees [istishadiyun] are the creation of the Palestinian nation".

·         Khaled Mash’al was one of five Hamas leaders who signed a “bayyan” (declaration) in August 2004, supporting uprisings by both Iraqis and Palestinians against the “filth of occupation”. 

·         In an April 2004 interview with BBC Hardtalk, Mash'al refused to disown the remarks of Abdul Aziz Rantissi (then Hamas representative in Gaza), who had called for the creation of 'martyrdom cells' in Iraq. Mash'al told the BBC: "What the US is doing in Iraq is not democracy. It is an occupation and there are killings right now".

·         Mash'al has a close relationship with Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, another prominent advocate of suicide attacks. In July 2007, during a conference held in Qatar, Mash'al praised Qaradawi for his ongoing support in the Palestinian jihad, as well as for his role in establishing the group of charities known as the Union of Good, which "succeeded in helping the Palestinians with hundreds of millions of dollars". The Union of Good has been designated by the US Treasury since November 2008.

·         In keeping with the Hamas Charter of 1988, Mash'al refuses to accommodate the existence of a Jewish state. Speaking to the Arab daily Al-Hayat, Mash'al described the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005 as "the beginning of the end for Israel", adding: "We, however, see the withdrawal as the first step for full liberation and achieving all of our legitimate rights. Today Gaza and tomorrow the West Bank and later every inch of the land".

·         In April 2005, Mash'al had explained that "in the eyes of Hamas", a truce [tahdiya] "is a trick within the resistance plans". Mash'al ended the last truce on 19 December 2008, and Israel initiated Operation Cast Lead soon afterwards. Mash'al hailed the operation's results as a victory for Hamas: "The victory is a strategic turning-point in the conflict with the Israelis."

·         As a member of the Muslim Brotherhood (and Hamas, its Palestinian branch), Mash'al shares its ambitions of global supremacy. In February 2006, Mash'al gave a Friday sermon at a mosque in Damascus, stating that Israel and America would be defeated in Palestine and Iraq. "Tomorrow, our nation will sit on the throne of the world. You are fighting against peoples for whom death for the sake of Allah. is preferable to life. You are fighting a nation that does not tire, even after 1,000 years of fighting." He advised the West to change its policies towards the "Islamic nation", "because we are winning, it is in your interests to deal with the victors, not the losers".

·         In December 2008 Mash'al restated that "Allah made a laughingstock of America", and maintained that "the day will come, within several years, when this world will change, submitting to the Arab Islamic will, Allah willing". 

·         Hamas's Muslim Brotherhood worldview places it in ideological opposition to the Palestinian Authority (PA), led by Mahmoud Abbas. At a January 2009 rally in Qatar, Mash'al announced the start of a new campaign, this time against the Fatah-led Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), saying that the PLO "has become impotent and a tool for deepening Palestinian divisions".

Please give your urgent attention to this matter. 

Lord Bew of Donegore (Crossbencher)

Lord Carlile of Berriew, QC (Liberal Democrat)

Lord Clarke of Hampstead (Labour)

Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank (Crossbencher - former Chief of Defence Staff)

Lord Steinberg of Belfast (Conservative)