A British envoy met Thursday with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas to discuss efforts to free abducted BBC journalist Alan Johnston, a British diplomat said.

The meeting comes despite a European Union ban on contacts with Hamas, which is on the EU list of terrorist organizations.

"This is just to discuss the kidnapping. It doesn't represent a change of policy," a British diplomat said about talks Consul-General Richard Makepeace planned with Haniyeh in Gaza.

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"We requested the meeting to discuss the kidnapping. This is the first time we have met with Haniyeh," the diplomat said.

It was the first such meeting between a representative of an EU-member country and a Hamas minister in the new Palestinian unity government.

During a press conference with Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad, Makepeace said he asked for the meeting with Haniyeh to discuss Johnston.

"God willing, we can have progress in the soonest possible time," he said, speaking in Arabic.

Hamad said Haniyeh briefed Makepeace on Palestinian security forces' efforts to free Johnston. He said special units are leading the search.

"We prefer to deal with it peacefully without using violence but we are discussing all the choices," Hamad said. "But we really want to bring him back alive and safe and not harmed."

Senior BBC officials also participated in the meeting, following which the British delegation met Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

"We will not spare any effort to bring back the journalist, the friend, the human being to his family," Abbas told reporters in Gaza City.

Earlier Thursday, about 350 journalists and activists marched from their protest tent in Gaza city toward Abbas' office to protest the continued detention of Johnston.

Security guards tried to stop the protesters, scuffling with some and firing in the air. The group was eventually allowed through and rallied outside Abbas' office. "Freedom for Johnston," a banner read.

Johnston, seized by gunmen on March 12 while driving his car in Gaza, has been held captive longer than any other journalist in the coastal strip.

There has been no public word on his fate despite Palestinian government pledges to find him.

Israel has called on Western powers to maintain an international boycott of the Hamas-led unity government, which has rejected their demands to recognize the Jewish state, renounce violence and accept existing interim peace accords.

But the United States, breaking with Israel, has said it would hold unofficial contacts with non-Hamas ministers. Britain and some other European countries have taken a similar line.

Western diplomats said there has been a general understanding since Hamas came to power in March 2006 that their no-contact policies could be relaxed in extreme cases such as kidnappings.