Hamas: We are willing to talk to the West

Hamas is willing to talk to the West, said the group's Gaza spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, expressing hope that the West would answer recent calls to talk to the Islamist movement, Israel Radio reported Tuesday. Zuhri was responding to Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi's call for dialogue with the group to allow it to develop politically. A senior official in the Foreign Ministry rejected Prodi's proposal saying that "a terror organization must not be negotiated with and that is the position of most European countries."