EU Foreign Policy and Hamas

Shortly after the overwhelming victory of Hamas in the 2006 parliamentary and municipal elections, civil war broke out in the Gaza Strip between members of the two factions, Hamas and Fatah. The EU, along with the US, UN and Russia, not only gave its support to Fatah against Hamas, but also imposed a tough siege on the Hamas government in an attempt to force it to accept the Quartet’s political conditions, described by Hamas leaders as unfair and impossible. Many observers are convinced that the