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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060706/ap_on_re_mi_ea/eu_israel_policy_shift
EU Tones Down Criticism of Israel
(AP/Yahoo) Slobadan Lekic - The shift is subtle but unmistakable. European governments - long accused of being pro-Arab - have toned down criticism of Israel, left in shock by the rise to power of Islamic Hamas which they consider a terrorist outfit. The election of Hamas has pulled the rug from under the EU's $626.5-million-a-year aid package to the Palestinians. "The election of Hamas has...ended the almost automatic solidarity with the Palestinians," said Mark Leonard, a foreign policy analyst at London's Centre for European Reform. "They have disappointed Europeans by their divisions, their lack of organization, the spectacle of violence in Gaza" between various Palestinian factions, said Dominique Moisi of the French Institute for International Relations. "By refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist, Hamas has weakened the Palestinians' position considerably."