Rice calls Abbas; says U.S. position on Hamas unchanged

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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Thursday that he hoped that Hamas would act "responsibly" now that it appears to have been elected to power in the Palestinian parliamentary elections.

"My hope is that as Hamas assumes a major role in the next government, whatever that might be, it will take a position on international standards of responsibility," Carter told a news conference in Jerusalem.

Carter, who led an international observer team from the National Democratic Institute, said Wednesday's elections had been orderly and fair.

The elections were "completely honest, completely fair, completely safe and without violence," the former president said.

As we have said, you cannot have one foot in politics and the other in terror.

If this were really true and we really believed it we would not be dealing with Saudi Arabia politically.

excerpts..

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Thursday congratulated the Palestinians on the "the smooth running" of the elections."

"The Palestinian people have voted democratically and peacefully. I welcome this," he said.

Solana also expressed caution at the results, saying that they "may confront us with an entirely new situation."

"The EU will express its views and prospects for cooperation with the future Palestinian Government in the light of that discussion and of developments on the ground," he added, saying that the Quartet of Middle East peace brokers would discuss "this new situation" at a meeting in London next week.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday that the Hamas victory was a "very, very, very bad result," according to news reports.

"If this news was confirmed, everything we had hoped for, that chance for peace between Israel and Palestine, is postponed to who knows when," Berlusconi said, according to the ANSA and Apcom news agencies. The comments were made during a TV show on a station Berlusconi owns.

Italy's foreign minister said the result risks making the creation of a Palestinian state more difficult.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw urged the Islamic militant group to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

"Hamas has to understand that with democracy goes renunciation of violence," Straw said on a visit to the Turkish capital. "It is up to Hamas to choose. We will have to wait and see, the international community will want Hamas to make a proper rejection of violence and to acknowledge that Israel exists," Straw said.

The Danish and Swedish foreign ministers on Thursday called on Hamas to give up their weapons. "It is a surprise election result. No one had expected they would get an absolute majority, if that is the outcome," Per Stig Moeller, Denmark's foreign minister, said.

"Hamas must stop the terror, they must put down the arms, they must accept a negotiated solution before the rest of the world can include them in the peace process," Moeller said.

Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds said the EU will not be able to cooperate with Hamas unless it changes its policies. "It is not possible for the EU to cooperate with a regime that does not dissociate itself from using violence and does not acknowledge Israel's right to exist," Freivalds told Swedish Radio.

The European Commission said Thursday it would work with any Palestinian government that used peaceful means.

"It is clear that Hamas has really got a very large proportion of the vote," European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told a European Parliament committee before official results were announced.

"What is important is that we state we are happy to work with any government if that government is prepared to work by peaceful means," she said.

U.S. demands recognition of Israel
U.S. President George W. Bush said Wednesday that the United States would not deal with Hamas until the radical Palestinian Islamist group renounces its position for calling for the destruction of Israel.

"A political party, in order to be viable, is one that professes peace, in my judgment, in order that it will keep the peace," the president said Wednesday in an Oval Office interview after an apparently strong showing by Hamas in Palestinian parliamentary voting.

"And so you're getting a sense of how I'm going to deal with Hamas if they end up in positions of responsibility. And the answer is: Not until you renounce your desire to destroy Israel will we deal with you." He made his remarks in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

The United States and other members of the international Quartet will reassess peace prospects next week, in light of Hamas' showing in the election.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other members of the Quartet of would-be international peacemakers will meet Monday in London, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The Quartet, which also includes the European Union and Russia, is on record against allowing Palestinian Authority cabinet status for anyone who has not renounced violence or recognized Israel's right to exist. Hamas has done neither.

Early exit polling suggested that Hamas placed a close second to the ruling Fatah Party, and the rival groups could end up forming a governing coalition.

Strong voter support for Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings against Israel, places the militant and political group inside the Palestinian political system for the first time.

Hamas boycotted earlier parliamentary elections, and Israel objected early on to allowing its participation in Wendesday's voting. Israel has warned it will not negotiate with any Palestinian government that includes Hamas.

Before the election, Hamas leaders said they would seek service ministries in a future cabinet, such as health, education and welfare. They said they would leave diplomacy, including contacts with Israel, to others.

Rice has said Hamas represents a "practical problem" for Israel in pursuing peace contacts. Hamas also poses a practical problem for the United States and European nations that list it as a terrorist organization.

"We don't deal with Hamas. And under the current circumstances, I don't see that changing," McCormack said Wednesday.

Even so, he did not rule out dealing with the Palestinian Authority at large, which will still be led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. McCormack also would not say whether the United States would withhold aid to the Palestinians if Hamas is in the government, although other U.S. officials have indicated that could happen.

"As for what policies the United States and the Quartet pursues based on what kind of Palestinian Authority there is, what kind of policies they pursue, we'll see" what the elections produce, McCormack said. "We're not there yet."

The Quartet meeting takes place a day ahead of a separate international gathering on the rebuilding of Afghanistan.

In December, the group issued a strongly worded statement noting a "fundamental contradiction" between armed militia activities and construction of a democratic state. The goal of the international peace effort is to erect an independent, democratic Palestine in areas where Palestinians already are concentrated alongside Israel.

The Quartet statement said that "a future Palestinian Authority Cabinet should include no member who has not committed to the principles of Israel's right to exist in peace and security and an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism," the statement said.

The Quartet put no conditions or threats on its recommendation, and McCormack would not do so Wednesday.

"There is a contradiction here when it comes to a political entity that is also operating outside of the political process and engaging in violence and has called for the destruction of a neighboring country," McCormack said, adding that that contradiction would have to be solved.

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, who is leading a team of international observers for the Palestinian parliamentary election Wednesday, said Tuesday that if Hamas wants to win international recognition after the elections, it will have to become more moderate.

Carter said at the Herzliya Conference on Tuesday that Hamas' electoral success "may or may not lead to their assuming more moderate and peaceful policies," but added: "This they must do."

Carter stated that Palestinians must stop terror groups, "even including a direct military confrontation." He also said Israel should withdraw from more West Bank settlements for the sake of a "Palestinian state living in peace and dignity," and added that Israel must not adopt unilateral action as a fixed policy.

"[Violence] is inherently counterproductive for the well-being of the Palestinian people and obviously prevents any further progress in the peace process," Carter said.

"I hope and believe that after this election there will be an extremely strong commitment by Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas] and the entire Palestinian Authority... to stamp out the last vestiges of terrorism," he said.

The next time Condi meets Abbas will be at his funeral.

---"As we have said, you cannot have one foot in politics and the other in terror. Our position on Hamas has therefore not changed," she told the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, speaking by videolink.---

Unless your view "evolves".

Now we just have to wait and she if she follows through with this stance.

I think Congress needs to pull any and all money we're sending over to that hell hole too.

What does it take? A bomb blowing our houses up to get the message. These people are our enemies - they just voted to confirm it - let's get at the task at hand.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Thursday that he hoped that Hamas would act "responsibly" now that it appears to have been elected to power in the Palestinian parliamentary elections.

Jimmy Carter, the root of all evil

We need a little accident (like the movie Fail Safe) right about now.

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cut off all money

What's the count of dead Americans killed by hamass? Anyone???

Very good point. Sadly, I fear the US will soften on this.