Rice: Hamas policy unchanged

2006-01-26 21:53

Washington - Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that the US position on Hamas as a terrorist organisation has not changed with the group's stunning victory in Palestinian elections, and Palestinian leaders must renounce violence and terror if they want world support.

"You cannot have one foot in politics and another in terror," Rice told the World Economic Conference in Davos, Switzerland via a telephone hook-up to the state department.

"Our position on Hamas has therefore not changed."

Rice spoke shortly after Palestinian voters rejected the longtime rule of the Fatah Party, throwing the future of Mideast peacemaking into question.

"Palestinian people have apparently voted for change, but we believe their aspirations for peace and a peaceful life remain unchanged," she said.

Rice said those goals will require renunciation of violence and terrorism and acceptance of Israel's right to exist side-by-side with a Palestinian state.

"Anyone who wants to govern the Palestinian people and do so with the support of the international community has got to be committed to a two-state solution," Rice said.

"You can't have a peace process if you're not committed to the right of your partner to exist."

She predicted that the world will "speak clearly" on those points over the next day or so, but did not outline just how the United States plans to proceed.

President George W Bush was quoted in a story published Thursday as saying the United States would have nothing to do with the militant group until it abandons its stated intention of annihilating the state of Israel.

Hamas has taken responsibility for dozens of suicide attacks on Israel over the past five years, but has largely observed a cease-fire since the election of Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian president last year.

In an interview in The Wall Street Journal, Bush said of Hamas: "The answer is: Not until you renounce your desire to destroy Israel will we deal with you."

Abbas's office said Thursday that Rice had called Abbas to praise Palestinian democracy and assert that the United States supports him and his policies.

"She asserted to him that US administration will continue supporting the elected president and his policies," said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, an Abbas aide.

- AP