Israel Matzav

US urges Abbas not to resign

The US called on Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas not to resign and to continue to lead the way to negotiations with Israel. US president George Bush, in a special news conference at the White House, stressed that the US would not negotiate with Hamas, which is a terror organization, though he would not spell out how the US is planning to deal with the future Palestinian cabinet.

"I've made it very clear that the United States does not support political parties that want to destroy our ally Israel, and that people must renounce that part of their platform", Bush said in his press conference. [I'll be very happy if Bush sticks to this but I don't think calling on Abu Mazen not to resign after he was soundly defeated in what most people seem to believe was a fair election is a realistic position to take. CiJ]

The US was caught by surprise by the results of the Palestinian elections, and while the administration had estimated that Hamas would show a significant gain in the elections, the working assumption was, according to diplomatic sources, that the Fatah will still be the major partner in the next Palestinian cabinet.

In a video address to the participants of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that "The Palestinian people have apparently voted for change, but we believe that their aspirations for peace and a peaceful life remain unchanged", [What a moronic statement! CiJ] adding that the US would not accept parties that have "one foot in politics and the other in terror".

The US administration sees the results of the Palestinian elections not as a vote of no-confidence in the peace process, but rather as an expression of the Palestinians frustration with their corrupt government. [Mark my words folks - this is going to be the party line. That the 'Palestinians' didn't really vote for terror - only to throw out the 'corrupt government.' The only problem with that is that Fatah's own 'al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade' has wreaked as much terror on us in the last five years as Hamas has. CiJ]

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British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw urged Hamas to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

"Hamas has to understand that with democracy goes renunciation of violence," Straw said. "It is up to Hamas to choose. We will have to wait and see, the international community will want Hamas to make a proper rejection of violence and to acknowledge that Israel exists," Straw said. [I have never understood what it means "to acknowledge that Israel exists." Israel's existence is a reality, whether they like it or not. They may - and do - want to try to change that fact. But it's a fact. CiJ]

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Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, who has positioned his conservative government as one of Israel's strongest allies in Europe, called Hamas' apparent victory "very, very, very bad result," news reports said.

"If the news was confirmed, everything we had hoped for, the chance for peace between Israel and Palestine, is postponed to who knows when," Berlusconi said, according to the ANSA and Apcom news agencies. The comments were made during a TV show on a station Berlusconi owns. [This is the first realistic statement I have seen. Of course, Berlusconi was meeting with Moshe Katzav today, so maybe that's why he has a clue. CiJ]

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:54 PM