MOSCOW, December 17 (RAPSI) – The General Court of the European Union has announced on Wednesday that the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas should be excluded from the European Union's terrorist list.

Hamas was put on the list in accordance with a common position and a regulation to combat terrorism adopted by the Council of the European Union on December 27, 2001. The group contested the measures maintaining them on this list.

The court found that "the contested measures were based not on acts examined and confirmed in decisions of competent authorities but on factual imputations derived from the press and the internet." That's the reason for removing Hamas from terrorist list. 

At the same time the contested measures would be temoprarily maintained, according to the ruling of the court. "The Court annuls the contested measures while temporarily maintaining the effects of those measures in order to ensure the effectiveness of any possible future freezing of
funds" the statement of the court reads.

Hamas, established in 1987 as a branch of the Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, is a Palestinian Islamic organization and a party fluctuating between politics and armed conflict with the Israeli forces. It has been recognized as a terrorist organization in Israel, Canada, US, Japan and the EU.

Palestinians are seeking the creation of an independent state on the territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, partially occupied by Israel as a result of the 1967 war. Though Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, it is still maintaining a land, air and sea blockade against the territories.