INTERVIEW-Effect of pressure on Hamas in doubt-US official

JERUSALEM, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The United States cannot be certain an international campaign to pressure Palestinian election winner Hamas to renounce violence and recognise Israel will work, a senior U.S. counter-terrorism official said Friday.

The Islamic militant group has brushed aside threats from the United States and Europe to freeze vital funding after it won the Jan. 25 Palestinian parliamentary election, and it said it was seeking alternative support from Iran and Arab states.

"I can say I hope they (Hamas) change. Whether they will or how long it takes, that's open to debate," Henry Crumpton, the U.S. State Department's coordinator for counter-terrorism, told Reuters while in Israel as part of a Middle East tour.

A CIA veteran who has advocated engaging moderate Muslims while waging war on al Qaeda, Crumpton said the United States hoped to prevail on Hamas by appealing directly to the Palestinian people and to Hamas's allies in the Arab world.

"We are going to continue to work with the Palestinian people, work with the Israeli government, work with the Egyptians and with all our partners in this area, to see if we can persuade this Hamas leadership to take on this new role," he said.

But he said Hamas's "dogmatic view of the world" could hamper efforts to bring change to the group, whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

"I think they need to work through that," Crumpton, adding, if Hamas does not give in to Western demands, "then they are not going to go very far in terms of their political success".

AL QAEDA EYEING ISRAEL

Since a Palestinian revolt erupted in 2000, Hamas has masterminded at least 60 suicide bombings against Israelis. But it has largely abided by a truce declared last year and offered to extend it if Israel withdraws from the occupied West Bank.

Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ruled out direct dealings with the Palestinian Authority so long as Hamas maintains its current policies. Ahead of a March 28 election, Olmert has been fending off right-wing charges that last year's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip helped Hamas' political ascendancy.

Benjamin Netanyahu, an Olmert rival and former prime minister who enjoyed considerable U.S. Republican support, has likened Hamas leaders to Osama bin Laden and predicted that Gaza would evolve into an al Qaeda base. Crumpton voiced skepticism about such assessments.

"I don't accept the comment about Israel's withdrawal from Gaza being a step backward in our counter-terrorism efforts," he said.

"I don't see Hamas as an extension of al Qaeda. I see Hamas as a terrorist organisation drive by local considerations, and now driven by the responsibility to govern their people. Whether they will do that or not, I can't say."

But Crumpton, who heads to Egypt next week to assess the Islamic militant threat in neighbouring Sinai, said Israel was at a high risk of al Qaeda attack.

"I can emphasise that we know al Qaeda's intent is to attack Israel and Israeli interests. They are working to do that, just like they are working to attack the U.S. and the homeland," he said.

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