Last update - 00:00 06/08/2007
Norway FM to Peres: Our contact with Hamas has been severed
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gar Store said Monday his country has severed all ties with Hamas established during the brief Palestinian Authority unity government.
In a meeting with President Shimon Peres, Gar Store said the Norwegian government now deals exclusively with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and the PA Prime Minister Salam Fayad.
Peres called on the Norwegian foreign minister to take a "strong line against Hamas," and added that it "must be made clear to Hamas that no one in the world will fund terrorism and the firing of rockets on Sderot and adjacent towns."
In response, the Norwegian foreign minister reaffirmed his government's commitment not to donate money to the Islamic group.
During the meeting, the president also touched on the Iranian nuclear program, calling it "the central threat to world peace."
Gar Store is in Israel on a joint visit with the chairman of Italy's Democrats of the Left party, Pierro Fassino, with whom he shares chairmanship of the Socialist International's committee on Middle Eastern affairs.
Earlier Monday, the Norwegian diplomat met his Israeli counterpart in which Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni criticized Norway's former contact with Hamas.
"Our treatment of Hamas is not a punishment for the past, but emanates from the group's prevention of any hope for the future," she added.
Livni urged the Arab world to recognize the PA government and the steps taken by Israel towards normalization.