US, EU To End Palestine Boycott.

The year-long boycott of the PA is coming to an end, with the US and EU contacting independent members of the new Palestinian government of national unity. Western officials rule out meetings with ministers from Hamas, which the EU and US classify as terrorist.

The shift follows pressure from Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia, for the West to engage with the new PA cabinet. But US policy is to isolate Hamas with the ultimate objective of having the group removed from power, while empowering "moderates".

On March 20, US Consul-General in Jerusalem Jacob Walles met new PA Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, an independent MP. The meeting was the first between a senior US diplomat and a Palestinian minister since the US and EU ended contacts with PA officials after the 2006 Hamas election victory. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, touring the region on March 24-26, has insisted the US will still not recognise the new government until Hamas recognises Israel, as stipulated by the Quartet of the US, the EU, Russia and the UN. But the EU is moving faster than Washington towards normalising relations. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy has already invited his Palestinian counterpart and an independent MP, Ziad Abu Amr, to visit him in Paris. Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht met Abu Amr on March 23 in Ramallah.

The EU provides large humanitarian aid to the Palestinians - over 700m in 2006 - but has bypassed the PA since Hamas took office. The FT on March 21 quoted a French diplomat as saying: "We are favourable to a mechanism that allows more direct assistance". He said a suitable time would be June, when the mechanism for the EU aid is reviewed.

The shift in the EU's stance will come as a relief to Saudi Arabia, which is set to give the Palestinian government further legitimacy at the March 28-29 summit. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt have been pressing Ms Rice to call for a resumption of peace talks.