Zweden verleent visa aan vertegenwoordigers Hamas: EU verdeeld (en)

Sweden has granted an entry visa to a Palestinian government minister and member of the islamist Hamas movement, putting EU unity in dealing with the terrorist-branded group to the test.

The Palestinian minister for refugees, Atef Adwan, will be given a visa by Stockholm to attend a non-governmental conference on Palestinians abroad in the city of Malmo, according to press reports.

It is the first time that an EU member state is allowing entry to a Hamas official after the islamist movement took over the Palestinian government in March.

Hamas is on the EU's list of terrorist organisations, and the EU does not maintain official ties with the group.

The visa issued by Stockholm is a an EU visa, valid for the bloc's borderless "Schengen" zone, meaning Mr Adwan could in theory travel to any other Schengen country with the document.

The Swedish ambassador to Israel, Robert Rydberg, told the Jerusalem Post that the decision to issue the visa "was not a break with EU policies, since there is no EU policy on the issuing of visas to Hamas representatives."

He added that Mr Adwan would "have no contact whatsoever with any representatives of the government."

France, however, last month refused a visa to Palestinian minister Samir Abu Eisha who wanted to attend a conference in Paris. This following an earlier visa refusal by Belgium in March.

According to Swedish media, Paris criticised Stockholm for its decision saying it would have blocked the move if Stockholm had notified its plans the right way.

The Jerusalem Post reports a European diplomat as saying that Sweden simply placed Adwan's name "into the [Schengen] system" without marking it as possibly problematic.

But a Swedish official argued that there is no special system of informing other Schengen countries about visa applications from Hamas members, adding that France was given all the necessary information about Mr Adwan's application.