This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 002272 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/WE AND H 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/01/2016 
TAGS: PREL FR PHUM PTER KPAL IS EUN COE
SUBJECT: HAMAS PARTICIPATION IN COE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY 
MEETING 
 
 
Classified By: Pol/MC Josiah Rosenblatt for reasons 1.4 (B & D). 
 
This is a joint message from Embassy Paris and ConGen 
Strasbourg. 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  Ambassador Stapleton received April 4 a 
letter from Congressman Wexler to COE Parliamentary Assembly 
(PACE) President van der Linden seeking to dissuade the 
parliamentary assembly from meeting with a Palestinian 
delegation of which one member belongs to Hamas.  Embassy and 
CG Strasbourg have intervened energetically to press the PACE 
in Strasbourg, and GOF officials here, to turn off the visit 
-- so far with uncertain results.  The PACE is claiming it 
sent an invitation to the Palestinian Legislative Council 
rather than Hamas in an effort to cover itself.  The GOF is 
extremely uncomfortable with the situation, but claims its 
host-country obligations vis-a-vis the COE may prevent it 
from refusing a visa request for a legitimate COE meeting. 
It is not clear at this stage whether there have been any 
formal visa requests.  While the MFA, including 
A/S-equivalent for the Near East Thibault, appear more 
comfortable addressing this as a legal rather than a 
political matter, our EU CFSP interlocutor at the MFA 
indicated that the GOF is prepared to raise the issue within 
the EU if necessary.  Comment:  GOF focus, thus far, appears 
to be on the legal aspect, i.e., whether a case can be made 
to refuse a visa, if and when a request is made by a Hamas 
member.  However, the French do not seem to be making a 
concerted effort with other European governments, the COE or 
the PACE to block or retract an invitation based on political 
considerations.  End comment and summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) On April 4, Ambassador Stapleton was copied on a 
letter from Rep. Robert Wexler to Rene van der Linden, the 
President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of 
Europe (PACE), seeking to dissuade Linden from allowing the 
Palestinian Legislative Council (PLO), which includes at 
least one representative from Hamas, from participating in 
April 10-13 meetings with PACE's Political Affairs 
Subcommittee on the Middle East and a PACE plenary session. 
The letter recommends prudence in eschewing all contact with 
Hamas until such time as Hamas as fulfilled the three 
conditions set forward by the Quartet (denunciation of 
terror, recognition of Israel's right to exist, and honoring 
of previous agreements with Israel).  Rep. Wexler's letter is 
also signed by Reps Tom Lantos, Gary Ackerman, Elliot Engel, 
Elton Gallegly, Jo Ann Davis, Steve Chabot, and Shelley 
Berkley.  The letter was also copied to Terry Davis, 
Secretary General of the COE and Mateo Sorinas Balfego, 
 
SIPDIS 
Secretary General of PACE, in addition to the Ambassador. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
¶3.  (C) Strasbourg CG raised congressional request to the 
Council of Europe to rescind the invitation to the 
Palestinian Legislative Council April 6 with PACE SecGen 
Mateo Sorinas.  CG noted the request violated EU/Quartet 
policy regarding Hamas and restrictions of diplomatic 
contacts and that it sends an inconsistent message in terms 
of policies agreed to by the EU and the Quartet.  A clearly 
uncomfortable Sorinas said the invitation went to the PLC, 
not solely to Hamas.  He said that the PLC has not yet 
responded to the invitation.  There has been no discussion in 
the PACE about the invitation, according to Sorinas.  The 
PACE passed a resolution several years ago requiring that the 
PLC be invited anytime Middle East issues are discussed in 
the plenary. 
 
¶4.  (C) Israeli consul, Gilbert Roos, told CG that the two 
members of the PLC may participate.  They are Hassan Kreirshe 
(sp) Independent, second vice president of the PLC, and 
Hamas-affiliated Mahmoud al Ramahi (secretary of the PLC). 
Both, according to Roos, attended a March 14 PACE political 
committee meeting in Paris.  When the two applied for visas 
to attend a May 14 meeting in Brussels, they were refused. 
Roos noted that Israel, in previous years, would have 
prevented such a departure, but that the PLC now departs via 
Egypt. 
 
¶5. (C) In a separate discussion with poloff April 6, MFA desk 
officer for Palestinian affairs Mariam Diallo confirmed that 
the GOF was considering Ramahi's visa application, but that 
no decision had been taken.  Poloff reiterated the need for 
continued unity on insisting on the Quartet conditions and 
not giving Hamas a platform in Europe, given that both the 
U.S. and Europe had designated Hamas a terrorist 
organization.  In response, Diallo stressed that the GOF's 
1949 host-country agreement with the COE essentially 
obligated the GOF to issue visas to individuals invited to 
COE events, and in fact required the GOF to expedite such 
visas.  She cautioned though, that MFA legal experts were 
still examining the issue, with no decision taken.  If the 
visa were issued, she concluded, the GOF would make clear 
that it was only on the basis of host-country obligations and 
was a legal, vice political decision.  She added that the 
invitation came from a COE institution, the Secretary General 
of the Parliamentary Assembly, not individuals or member 
states, which made it more difficult for the GOF to find a 
way out on the issue.  Pressed on whether Ramahi had visited 
Paris to attend a March 14 COE meeting, Diallo said she was 
not aware that any such travel had taken place, and that she 
likely would have been informed, given the visa implications. 
 
¶6.  (C) In a follow-on discussion with Political 
Minister-Counselor, MFA A/S-equivalent for the Middle East 
Jean-Francois Thibault assured PolMC that France was taking a 
great deal of care in developing its approach to an extremely 
delicate matter.  Thibault confirmed that the legality of a 
visa denial was still being studied.  He claimed that 
France's legal obligations under its 1949 agreement with the 
COE were more stringent than the European Parliament's with 
Belgium.  There were previous cases in which, despite 
France's opposition to a visit, the GOF had been obligated to 
allow a politically objectionable visitor to enter France to 
attend a COE event.  French authorities in essence ended up 
escorting the visitor to and from the airport to ensure that 
no other use was made of the visit.  PolMC expressed the hope 
that France would view this as a political issue, and use its 
influence and make known publicly its views on Hamas in order 
to persuade the PACE to refuse Hamas participation, citing 
the action of EU President Borrell to that effect.  Thibault 
said that France would make its position clear with respect 
to its unambiguous support for and adherence to the Quartet's 
conditions, citing specifically FM Douste-Blazy's public 
statement to that effect the morning of April 6.  He 
suggested the U.S. take its concerns directly to the COE, 
which PolMC assured him we had done.  He also took the 
occasion to complain about the "false rumors" emanating from 
the Middle East about alleged French contact with Hamas, 
completely unfounded and the product of "disinformation 
endemic to the region." 
 
¶7.  (C) In yet another, separate conversation with Deputy 
PolCouns, MFA CFSP Unit Head Jean-Louis Falconi repeated many 
of Thibault's arguments, but with more attention to 
operational details.  He said that the GOF was still in the 
process of attempting to obtain confirmation from the COE 
that invitations had been extended to the PLC.  Falconi 
claimed that, as far as he knew, no visas had yet been 
requested for travel.  He emphasized that this was situation 
France did not wish to be confronted with and was in fact 
very anxious to avoid.  The GOF's best course of action would 
be to try to ensure that there would be no visa request 
forthcoming that would require adjudication.  Given its COE 
obligations, Falconi continued, the GOF would be able to 
refuse a visa only if the individual were considered a danger 
to public order or listed individually on an EU, UN, or 
French list of banned persons.  He said that, if indeed the 
COE confirms the invitation and France receives a visa 
request, then it would attempt to consult its EU partners 
before coming to a final decision.  He did not indicate 
whether this was more for the purpose of cover, or whether 
France would be seeking some sort of EU "decision" that might 
exempt it in this instance from its COE obligations. 
 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
 
Stapleton