WASHINGTON – Arab League Secretary-General and one of Egypt's leading presidential candidates Amr Moussa does not believe Hamas is a terrorist organization.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Moussa said: "The view that Hamas is a terrorist organization is a view that pertains to a minority of countries, not a majority. Being a terrorist is not a stigma forever."

The former Egyptian foreign minister also said Israel should be pressured into lifting the Gaza blockade and stressed that Egypt must improve its relations with Tehran. The issue of Iran's nuclear program is separate from Israel's nuclear program, he said.





Hamas' military wing. 'Being a terrorist isn't a stigma forever' (Photo: Reuters)

Iran is not the natural enemy of Arabs, and it shouldn’t be. We have a lot to gain by peaceful relations — or less tense relations — with Iran," he said. "The nuclear issue in the Middle East means Israel and then Iran."

Moussa endorsed relations with the US based on the changing reality in Egypt which take into consideration the Egyptian people's views.

Referring to the peace treaty with Israel, Moussa said he seeks relations between the Arab world and Jerusalem based on the 2002 Arab peace initiative.

He accused ousted President Hosni Mubarak of unjustly separating Egypt's relations with the Arab world from the Palestinian issue. "Egypt conducted its relations in the region in a way that the people did not accept. Egyptian-Arab relations is one thing; the Palestinian question is another."

He further added: "Blocking Gaza and enforcing the siege along Gaza — people didn’t like that. We should have insisted and used Egyptian-Israeli relations to try and undo and put an end to the siege that caused a lot of suffering to the people of Gaza."