Exiled Hamas leader Meshal meets British lawmakers in Syria

A British parliamentary delegation on a visit to Syria has met Hamas leader Khaled Meshal as part of European efforts to communicate with the Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas said yesterday.

Meshal lives in exile in Syria and the meeting took place in the Syrian capital on Tuesday.

The British embassy confirmed the meeting but denied a Syrian media report that Ambassador Simon Collis attended. Richard Spring, a member of parliament from the opposition Conservative party who heads the nine-member delegation, was not among those who met Meshal, the embassy said.

The British government boycotts Hamas, in line with a European Union position not to have official contacts with the group unless it renounces armed struggle, recognizes Israel's right to exist and past agreements between the Jewish state and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. In March, four members of the British parliament urged the British government to end its boycott of the Palestinian group after meeting Meshal.

Calls have mounted in Britain and major European powers to deal with Hamas after the Israeli invasion of Gaza, which killed hundreds of civilians before it was halted in January.