Talking won’t kill anyone

Let the usual suspects bleat, but this is certainly good news. It’s called acknowledging Middle East realities:

The former Labour minister Clare Short has been embroiled in a row after inviting senior Hamas leader Khaled Meshal to address MPs in Parliament.

Ms Short faced strong criticism from both the British and Israeli governments for her part in organising tonight’s question-and-answer session between Mr Meshal and a backbench committee of MPs.

Mr Meshal, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, is based in Damascus and is considered by many to be the No 1 decision maker in the Islamic fundamentalist organisation. He was the target of a bungled Israeli assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997.

He is set to speak to the committee via a video link. The session was arranged when Ms Short and a group of MPs met the senior Palestinian hardliner during a visit to the Syrian capital.

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