07 March 2005	Monday	25 Muharram 1426

WASHINGTON, March 6: Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said in an interview that US President George W. Bush was not the prime mover behind Palestinian moves toward democracy and that Bush would not dictate the terms of a peace deal with Israel.

"I don't think that we made democracy because President Bush pushed us. We decided that we should have a democratic process, and we did it without any pressure," Abbas told Time magazine.

The Palestinian leader also said that Hamas, would take its place in the Palestinian parliament.

"I concluded a truce with Hamas when I was prime minister," Abbas said. "After I became head of the Palestinian Authority, I conducted talks with them, and they accepted (to continue) without any pressure on them. It is a democracy. We have to deal with them accordingly."

He added that the fact that Hamas won seats in Palestinian municipal elections was another sign that the group had to be reckoned with. "This is proof that they are going to be a political party, which is good."

He added that US and Israeli leaders should not be shocked if Hamas takes part in the national assembly. "They should be in the parliament. They will share responsibility. Israel has more than 33 political parties from right to left and in between," Abbas said.

The Palestinian leader said Israel and the United States should not rush to complete the final details of a Middle East peace deal, such as deciding what the borders should be of a Palestinian state and the future of Jerusalem.

He said a repeat of the Camp David summit - with Israeli and Palestinian leaders - organised by US President Bill Clinton in 2000 would be "unworkable".

When asked about reported promises made by Bush to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Palestinians would have no right of return to land lost in 1948, changes to the 1967 Middle East frontiers and on Jerusalem, Abbas said nothing could be decided without Palestinian agreement.

"President Bush doesn't have the right to prejudice final-status issues," he said. "These issues should be discussed in the final stages, not now. He can't make commitments on behalf of the Palestinian people. It is our right to say yes or no."

Abbas said that any compromise over key points would be put to a referendum of Palestinian people.

Pro-Damascus forces: Pro-Damascus Lebanese movements on Sunday rejected an immediate and complete pullout of Syrian troops from Lebanon because the country remained in a "state of war" with Israel, said Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, said after a meeting of the movements.

"We refuse that the presence of Syrian troops in the Bekaa be subject to (UN Security Council) Resolution 1559," which calls for an immediate and full pullout, said Nasrallah.

"It can only be subject to the Taef accord," which stipulates a Syrian pullback into the Bekaa before an agreement by the two states for the duration of the Syrian military presence.-AFP