Hamas slams Bush condemnation as 'unjust'


AFP
 Date: 05-27-05

GAZA CITY (AFP) - The Islamist fundamentalist group Hamas said renewed condemnation from US President George W. Bush calling the organisation a "terrorist" outfit was unjustified.

"We in Hamas reject Bush's statement as unjust and unfair," official Ismael Hanyeh told AFP, one day after landmark talks between Bush and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in Washington.

"I'm asking who is the victim? Palestinians who are killed in the occupation ... or those who have killed us, destroyed our houses and occupied our territories," he added.

On Thursday, Bush renewed criticism of Hamas as a "terrorist group", saying groups that used violence as a political tool would ultimately find it impossible to achieve their goals of a Palestinian state.

Bush's comments came amid concern in the ruling Palestinian Fatah party that Hamas in legislative elections to be held in July could build on sweeping gains it made in local elections in Gaza and municipal elections earlier this year.

The United States designated Hamas a terrorist organisation in 1997, and last year arrested two suspected members of the group in the United States on charges of US-based financing and recruiting for a cell linked with the group.

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