A senior Gaza-based Hamas official visited a number of European countries recently to promote the Islamic movement's general position, a source said on Thursday.

Switzerland was one of the European countries that Mahmoud Zahar, former Hamas' foreign minister, visited in his low-profile tour, the source, who declined to reveal the names of other countries Zahar visited, told Xinhua.

Zahar is a newly-elected member of Hamas' politburo, the highest decision-making body of the Islamic movement which the United States and most of the European countries classified as a terrorist organization, owing to its charter which calls for the elimination of Israel.

In his talks with European officials, Zahar focused on the blockade Israel has been imposing on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for two years. "These meetings aimed at breaking the siege on Gaza and the international isolation on Hamas. He also tried to build relations" with these European countries, the sources added.

Hamas did not release news about Zahar's visits "upon requests by the countries that were included in the trip." Zahar, who is also a member of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian parliament, paid the visit upon requests by those European countries.

After Israel ended a three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip in January, many Western diplomatic delegations visited the territory and some of them held talks with Hamas, the latest one was former US President Jimmy Carter.

In June, Khaled Mashaal, Hamas' politburo chief, delivered a speech in which he said the Islamic movement was open to talk with the West and was willing to accept a Palestinian statehood alongside Israel but without recognizing the Jewish state.

(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2009)