Isolating Hamas may help al Qaeda -Italy minister

ROME, July 17 (Reuters) The West's policy of isolating Hamas could backfire and push the militant Palestinian group into the arms of al Qaeda, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said.

In quotes reported in Italian media today and confirmed by his spokesman, D'Alema said sidelining Hamas, which won a January 2006 election despite being classed as a ''terrorist'' group by the West, did not set a good example of democracy.

''Hamas has been involved in terrorist activity, but it is also a popular movement,'' D'Alema said in a speech to supporters of his Democrats of the Left party.

''For the West, not to recognise a democratically elected government, while at the same time we walk arm-in-arm with certain dictators, is not a great lesson in democracy.'' Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed a Hamas-led government after the group seized control of the Gaza strip last month.

Israel and the West, which imposed sanctions on the former government, have given financial support to Abbas and continued to isolate Hamas, something D'Alema said might have unwanted consequences.

''It is a mistake to give to al Qaeda movements like Hamas and (Lebanon's) Hezbollah,'' he said. ''It is in the interests of the international community to avoid pushing these movements into the arms of al Qaeda.'' The leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, has denied that al Qaeda is present there. ''There is no al Qaeda in the Gaza Strip and talk of Gaza becoming a foothold for al Qaeda is an invitation to international hostilities,'' he told Reuters in a recent interview.

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