Hamas: US not enemy

2006-01-29 07:40

Washington - The United States is not the enemy of Hamas, a top group leader told US television in an interview from his home in Gaza.

"We are not considering America as our enemy," said Mahmud Zahar, a co-founder of the radical Islamist movement Hamas.

Zahar, interviewed by CBS News, said his group is looking for US President George W Bush "to implement justice."

"Believe me, the people are now going to make linkage between what is running in Iraq, what is running in Afghanistan, and what is running in Palestine. That is not serving the American interests."

The US president on Friday, also speaking to CBS, warned that US aid to the Palestinians would be cut if Hamas does not dissolve its armed wing and renounce their aim to destroy Israel.

Washington considers Hamas a terrorist group.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas has charged Hamas with forming a government after the group's surprise electoral victory on Wednesday.

Zahar told CBS that there is no one in the Israeli government he feels he can trust enough to negotiate with, and that the US president holds the key to piece peace in the region.

Zahar also said that Hamas is "ready to establish an independent state, in any area evacuated from the occupation, but we are not going to accept any aggressions against us."

"Give us a chance to live as human beings" and the attacks by suicide bombers in Israel "will reach an end," he said.

This year, the United States budgeted no direct aid for the Palestinian Authority, but plans to provide $150m to the Palestinians through the US Agency for International Development and another $84m through the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near-East.

- AFP