Britain was today accused of undermining the fragile Middle East peace process by holding 'low level' talks with the Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, admitted that diplomats had met newly-elected leaders from the organisation at least twice since its political wing seized a number of key seats in the West Bank and Gaza last month.

Although Mr Straw stressed that Britain would have no direct dealings with Hamas until it had formally renounced the use of violence, Israel has criticised the Government for engaging in such discussions.

Shuli Davidovich, spokeswoman at the Israeli Embassy in London, said: "Any dialogue will empower the extremists and not the moderates on the Palestinian Authority.

"As long as Hamas continued to go through the route or terrorism we can’t perceive them as a political organisation."

Her criticism added to pressure on Mr Straw to sever the emerging diplomatic ties between Europe and Hamas as he prepared to meet his counterpart in Jerusalem at the start of a two-day visit to the Middle East.

Mr Straw said that Hamas' democratic successes presented a ‘dilemma’ for diplomats who want to be seen to promote the organisation's political ambitions while continuing to condemn its use of violence.

The organisation's success at the poll - it took 30 of 84 seats including a number of important urban centres - has caused European Union leaders to consider backing efforts by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, to neutralise Hamas by engaging it in the peace process.

Israel has repeated that it regards Hamas as a terrorist organisation and redoubled its criticism of the group's activities today, saying that a period of relative peace in the past three months was merely the calm before a "third wave" of suicide bombings and violence.

This morning, four home-made mortars were fired on the southern Israeli town of Sderot while Israeli soldiers reported that they had killed Morwaah Kamil, a leading militant from Islamic Jihad, after a lengthy gun battle in Qabitaya, near Jenin.

Mr Straw was keen to stress that a ban on negotiations with the organisation, which he introduced during his time as Home Secretary, had not been overturned.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that there had been 'low-level' contact with elected mayors and councillors not implicated in violence.

He said: "We are faced with the dilemma following the decision by Hamas's non-military wing to participate in the elections in the Palestinian Authority. The result is that Hamas or people associated with Hamas have been elected in a number of areas.

"We have a diplomatic job to do, and our diplomats in the occupied territories see part of their job as being to have contact with elected representatives.

"In all occupied territories it is de rigueur, it is required, that if a diplomat of whatever level goes into a town they go and talk to the mayor. What happened on two occasions, just two occasions, was that such discussions have taken place.

"But on each of those occasions our staff have spelt out to the elected officials our position in respect of no dealings with Hamas as an organisation as long as it continues to support violence and the destruction of Israel."

Israeli officials frequently voice frustration at the Palestinian Authority for failing to crack down, but the authority’s leaders insist that they cannot risk provoking civil war and point to three months of relative calm as a vindication of Mr Abbas’s strategy.

A spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry said today: "Hamas is part of the problem, not part of the solution. They are committed to Jihad, they do not believe Israel should exist.

"When we have a period of relative quiet we know that Hamas is stockpiling weapons, training suicide bombers and is getting ready for a third wave where they will launch suicide bombers against Israelis."

Mr Straw will have talks Silvan Shalom, the Foreign Minister, in Jerusalem today. He will then go to Ramallah to meet the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, the Prime Minster, Ahmed Qurei' and foreign minister, Nasir Al Qudaw. His tour will end with a meeting with Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister.

While Mr Straw is in the Middle East, Tony Blair is in Washington for talks with George Bush which are expected to touch on the "road map" for peace.

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