JERUSALEM, 17 June 2005 — Israel said yesterday it has protested increasing European Union contacts with Hamas, while the militant group confirmed that contacts with EU diplomats are on the rise.

“We believe Europeans should be strengthening moderate Palestinians and not appeasing the extremists,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev. “Anything that demonstrates acceptance of Hamas as a legitimate player is a problem.”

In Brussels, EU spokeswoman Elena Peresso said the union has reached no collective decision on whether to change its policy toward Hamas, which has recently increased its standing in the Palestinian territories through winning local elections.

Both the US and the EU list Hamas as a terrorist group, but the militants’ growing clout is posing an increasing dilemma for the West. US and European agencies are locked into arrangements with Palestinian towns now run by newly elected Hamas-backed mayors.

In three rounds of municipal voting since December, the group sworn to Israel’s destruction won more than a third of the 120 communities up for grabs, including some of the largest ones.

Some, especially in the EU, have argued that talking to Hamas could help curb its extremist tendencies. Others say the contact will only prop up violent hard-liners.

Regev said Israeli officials are in contact with EU diplomats to express Israeli concerns about the meetings with Hamas.

Hamas officials said the group is talking to EU diplomats despite the Europeans’ official designation of Hamas as terrorists, and that the contacts have recently intensified.

“Every 10 days to two weeks, we have at least one meeting with a European diplomat,” said Mohammed Ghazal, a senior Hamas representative in the West Bank. “No one can deal with the Arab countries without dealing with the Islamic movements.”

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a Syria-based Hamas leader, said in an interview yesterday on a Hamas website that the European Union is reconsidering its inclusion of Hamas on its list of terrorist groups — an assertion denied by the Europeans themselves.