President &to=http://english.pravda.ru/mailbox/22/101/399/15427_Bush.html' target=_blank>George W. Bush said Wednesday the United States will 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 sponsors of a plan to draw Israelis and Palestinians back to the peace table will reassess peace prospects next week in the wake of the &to=http://english.pravda.ru/mailbox/22/101/399/16661_Israel.html' target=_blank>Palestinian voting.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, U.N. 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 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, reports AP.
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