EU court rules Hamas should be removed from bloc's 'terror' list

The Palestinian group Hamas should be removed from the European Union's “terrorist” list, the General Court of the European Union ruled on Wednesday, saying the initial decision to include Hamas was based on media reports rather than considered analysis.

But the court, which is the EU's second-highest tribunal, said in its ruling that member states could maintain their freezes on Hamas's assets for three months to give time for further review or for an appeal to be launched.

Despite the ruling, the EU's foreign policy arm said the bloc continues to view Hamas as a “terrorist” group.

"This was a legal ruling of the court based on procedural grounds. We will look into this and decide on appropriate remedial action," spokeswoman Maja Kocijanic said.

Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, and its founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel, with whom it has regularly battled — most recently in a 50-day war this summer. About 2,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed in the war, which ended on August 26. On the Israeli side 73 people were killed, 67 of them soldiers.

Hamas says it is a legitimate resistance movement, and had contested the EU decision in 2001 to include it on the “terrorist” list. It welcomed Wednesday's ruling.

"The decision is a correction of a historical mistake the European Union had made," Deputy Hamas chief Moussa Abu Marzouk said. "Hamas is a resistance movement and it has a natural right according to all international laws and standards to resist the occupation."

The EU court did not consider the merits of arguments as to whether Hamas should be classified as a "terror" group. The court reviewed the original decision-making process, which it said did not include the considered opinions of competent authorities, but rather relied on media and Internet reports.

The court said that if an appeal is brought before the EU's top court, the European Court of Justice, the freeze of Hamas funds should continue until the legal process is complete.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted to the decision on Wednesday, calling it a “staggering example of European hypocrisy.” 

"It seems that too many in Europe, on whose soil six million Jews were slaughtered, have learned nothing. But we in Israel, we've learned," Netanyahu said, branding Hamas "a murderous terrorist organization."

In a similar ruling in October, an EU court said the 2006 decision to place Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers on the EU “terrorist” list was procedurally flawed. As with Hamas, it said the group's assets should remain frozen pending further legal action and the European Union subsequently filed an appeal.

The latest judgment came as the European Parliament approved a non-binding resolution supporting Palestinian statehood. The text was a compromise, representing divisions within the EU over how much to blame Israel for failing to agree peace terms.

Al Jazeera and wire services