NASHVILLE, Feb 2: President George Bush said on Wednesday that the United States could support a Hamas-led Palestinian government if it abandoned its goal of destroying Israel and disarmed.
Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, earlier on Wednesday rejected Mr Bush’s call to disarm.
Interviewed by a news agency, Mr Bush said in the most explicit way to date that the United States could engage with Hamas, which swept to a stunning victory last week in the Palestinian parliamentary election.
“In order for the United States to support a Palestinian government run by Hamas, Hamas 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,” Mr Bush said.
Interviewed aboard Air Force One on a flight to Nashville, Tennessee, Mr Bush outlined conditions for US engagement with the group.
Mr Bush formally laid down conditions for Hamas in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday night, but left open what would happen if the group met those conditions, said Martin Indyk, former US ambassador to Israel and senior adviser on the Middle East to former president Bill Clinton.
But in the interview, Mr Bush ‘made it explicit that he doesn’t rule out dealing with a Hamas government’, Mr Indyk said.
The Bush administration has said repeatedly since Hamas swept to victory over the long-dominant Fatah faction that the group must radically change its stance and should not expect US aid until it does.
Mr Indyk, who heads the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, said: “I wouldn’t make too much out of it because Hamas is not about to do any of those things (that Mr Bush insists on), so it’s much more likely that the United States would not deal with that government.”
Mr Indyk predicted it would take 20 years for Hamas to change.
Although Hamas has rejected the US demands, Mr Bush said in the interview that it was possible for the militant group to change and that it had a responsibility to do so to improve the lives of Palestinians.
“Many of them ran for office on a platform that said ‘we’re against corruption, we are for better schools and better hospitals.’ On the platforms I saw I didn’t see a lot of people saying ‘vote for me, I’m for war,’” Mr Bush said.
“They ran on a ‘better life’ platform. And in order for that to come true, when they get in office they’ve got to deliver on a better life, and you cannot deliver on a better life if part of your platform is to say ‘I’m going to destroy my neighbour,’” Mr Bush said.
He argued that it was not in Hamas’s interests to have an armed wing that enforces its will.
“Security must serve everybody. Security shouldn’t be the part of a party, security ought to be a part of the state’s responsibility to protect all people regardless of their political party, or regardless of their religious beliefs.”
Policymakers in Washington were caught off guard by the Hamas victory and are coming to grips with what happens if Hamas takes a large share of the government.
Mr Bush has urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to resign. Mr Abbas has been a US ally on the peace process but his Fatah party was soundly defeated by Hamas.
“Hamas has got a decision to make, and that decision is whether or not it will be a partner in peace and you cannot be a partner in peace if part of your platform is the destruction of Israel. Nor can you be a partner in peace if part of your party has got a terrorist affiliation, armed groups,” Bush said.
Middle East expert David Makovsky said it was significant that Bush, in the interview, specified that Hamas must change its ‘party platform’ or charter.
“That suggests to me that the president wants to make sure that the change is permanent and not subject to tactical sorts of adjustments,” said Mr Makovsky, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
