Quartet pushes Hamas to renounce violence, accept Israel

Without naming Hamas, US-EU-Russian Federation-UN diplomatic "quartet" seeking to implement a Middle East peace "roadmap" reiterated their view "that there is a fundamental contradiction between armed group and militia activities and the building of a democratic state.

"A two-state solution to the conflict requires all participants in the democratic process to renounce violence and terror, accept Israel's right to exist, and disarm, as outlined in the roadmap," the quartet said in a statement Thursday.

The statement followed a conference call between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner to discuss the ramifications of Hamas' win, and ahead of a strategy meeting Monday in London.

Their stance echoed the international reaction to Hamas' landslide victory in demanding that the Islamist party take Israel out of its sights and commit itself to the path of peace.

Hamas, which has spearheaded a deadly string of attacks against Israel since it formed in the late 1980s, won a surprising 76 of the 132 seats in the Palestinian legislature, against 43 for the ruling Fatah party.

US President George W. Bush responded to Hamas' victory sharply.

"A political party that articulates the destruction of Israel as part of its platform is a party with which we will not deal," he told a White House news conference.

"I know you can't be a partner for peace if your party has got an armed wing," added Bush, adding that he would like the current Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas to remain in office.

Shocked by the Hamas triumph, the Israeli government said it would refuse any negotiation with a Palestinian power that includes "an armed terrorist organisation" advocating its destruction.

Separately, the 25-member European Union said in a statement that it "reiterates its position that there is no place in a political process for groups or individuals who advocate violence."

It said the EU was "ready to continue to support Palestinian economic development and democratic state building," support that has amounted to about half a billion euros (610 million annual dollars) annually since 2003.

At the same time, EU officials expect the newly elected Palestinian Legislative Council "to support the formation of a government committed to ending violence, a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the rule of law, reform, and sound fiscal management."

Despite criticizing Hamas, the quartet hailed the Palestinian elections as "free, fair and secure" and called on all parties to respect the results.

The group insisted the peace process was not dead.

"The Palestinian people have voted for change, but it is the view of the quartet that their aspirations for peace and statehood ... remain unchanged," the four diplomatic powers said.

The group's statement gave no clear sign of whether the quartet would deal with a Hamas-led Palestinian government.

However, in an interview with CBS Radio News after the call, Rice stressed that the four emphasized the need for "any government" of the Palestinians to be committed to the "roadmap," a plan to carve out a two-state peace between the Palestinians and Israel.

"We were in firm agreement that the Palestinian people deserve a peaceful future," Rice said.

"They deserve the kind of peaceful future that the roadmap can give them, but any government is going to have to be committed to those principles of the roadmap," she said.

"The international community is going to be prepared to move forward on the roadmap," Rice said.

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