THE Arab League; the Quartet of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia; Israel and the Palestinian Fatah movement are all agreed that Hamas must recognise the peace process and the state of Israel before it can lead a Palestinian government and qualify for donors’ aid.
All of these states and organisations rejected the decision of the Palestinian people to elect Hamas and support its policies.
The Quartet has ‘granted’ the Islamic Resistance Movement a ‘grace period’ of three months to comply with their ‘conditions,’ which Hamas rejected as ‘blackmail.’
US President George W Bush on Wednesday reiterated those conditions:
‘The conditions for peace and the conditions for a settlement will be up to Hamas to make the right decisions,’ he said, adding: ‘Hamas must renounce its desire to destroy Israel; it must recognise Israel’s right to exist, and it must get rid of the armed wing of its party.
‘In order for the United States to support a Palestinian government run by Hamas, it must change its party platform and change its way of thinking and get rid of this armed group, as well as change its attitude toward Israel,’ Bush said.
He added that this was a condition for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
On Wednesday, Egypt subscribed to Bush’s conditions after Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas talked with President Hosni Mubarak and the Arab League chief Amre Mousa.
Abbas arrived in Egypt from Jordan and denied news about a meeting with the visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Cairo, or preparations to meet Khaled Mishaal, Head of Hamas Political Bureau, Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported on Wednesday.
Abbas immediately went into meetings with Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
The Palestinian Fatah movement has similarly decided to boycott a Hamas-led government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip and to isolate the Islamic Resistance Movement until it joins the peace platform of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) or falls from power.
The Palestinian people however remain unmoved and have no regrets about electing the Islamic organisation, while noting that the US only recognises the democratic process when the party of its choice is elected.