Hamas negotiates with West to stop being listed as terror organization

GAZA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement has been exerting efforts to erase its name from the list of world terrorist organizations by holding meetings with U.S. and European officials, a senior Hamas official said Wednesday.

A series of meetings with European officials have been held in Gaza, Cairo and other countries, Ghazi Hammad, Hamas deputy foreign minister, told reporters.

"These meetings which included U.S. officials closed to the White House, were held away from the mass media and aimed at removing Hamas from the list of terrorist organizations," Hammad said.

He added that "there are no legal or political justifications for keeping Hamas movement in that list."

Meantime, Hammad said Hamas is also trying to build up positive contacts with all political parties, not only the Muslim Brotherhood Movement in Egypt.

The United States, Europe and Israel classified the Hamas movement, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since June 2007, as a terrorist organization.

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