Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will not rule out negotiations with Hamas, she said on Wednesday at the start of her European tour.

Following a meeting with her Austrian counterpart Ursula Plassnik in Vienna Livni said a joint press conference: “The ball is in Hamas’s court.”

Livni clearly set out the conditions for negotiations with the Palestinian group who won legislative elections last January and is set to form the new government.

Hamas would have to stop violence, recognise Israel and honour prior agreements with Israel, she said. 

Israel-EU differences 

According to diplomatic sources, however, there are differences between Israel and the European Union on the definition of the change within the Palestinian Authority.

Israel regards the mandate given by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Hamas to form the next government as the point of no return, whereas the EU considers the period until a Hamas-led government is formed as a “transition.”

The EU announced an emergency financial aid package for the Palestinians on Monday, aimed at helping avoid economic collapse. EU leaders stressed that part of it would go to the transition Palestinian government.

Israel’s foreign minister defended the Israeli move to stop money transfers for custom revenues und income tax to the Palestinian Authority.

“If they don’t accept our existence, they don’t have to accept our checks,” she stressed.

The money is not dedicated to finance “terrorist organisations,” Livni added. This is simultaneously the position of the US and EU, she added.

“It’s not our policy to punish the Palestinian,” Livni said. “Israel would give humanitarian aid but if you give terrorist organisations money, it is the wrong direction and we then talk about our very life and future.”

Plassnik, who chairs the EU Council, said the EU would support Mahmoud Abbas in the “transition period”, but pointed out that “violence and terror are not to be accepted in a democratic process.” 

European tour 

Livni’s visit to Vienna is part of a two-day European tour.
After Austria, she was due to travel to Paris Wednesday afternoon where she will meet her counterpart Philippe Douste-Blazy.

She will also visit the family of Ilan Halimi, the French Jew killed in an anti-Semitic attack that has shocked France.

Livni will also meet representatives of CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish organisations.

On Thursday Livni will arrive in Britain where she will meet Foreign Minister Jack Straw. 

Israel concerned 

Meanwhile Israel has expressed concern over European attitudes to Russias invitation to Hamas to visit Moscow on Thursday for talks with senior officials.

Diplomatic sources said Israel is concerned that European capitals will adopt a softer approach towards Hamas which is on the European Union list of terror organizations. France has already supported Moscow's initiative.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is a friend of Israel and will not act against its interests, Israeli Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared Tuesday during a discussion in his office regarding relations between the two countries.

Olmert said that in recent days he received important messages from Putin that Russia will keep in line with the Quartet’s policy towards the group which calls on it to disarm, and added that he plans to strengthen dialogue with Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he will meet Hamas leader on Thursday.