Democracy, a faithful dog that bit Bush

Photo: AFP. The gun and the Koran ... Hamas supporters celebrate in the West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday.

Michael Gawenda
Herald Correspondent in Washington
January 28, 2006

WITH his democracy project in the Middle East having produced a landslide victory for Hamas in the Palestinian elections, the US President, George Bush, is hoping Hamas will renounce terrorism and recognise Israel. But analysts agree the chances of this happening soon are remote.

Mr Bush's response to the result was surprisingly mild, even conciliatory. He pointedly avoided calling Hamas a terrorist organisation, leaving the door open for US contact with a Hamas government that recognised Israel and renounced violence. Bush officials, including the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, will soon hold talks with European allies on a joint approach to the Hamas election victory.

The challenge will be to find a way of leaving the door open for Hamas to change its mind on terrorism and recognise Israel while making it clear that without such a change, the peace process and the so-called road map will be dead.

At a hurriedly organised press conference, Mr Bush avoided a direct answer to the question of whether Washington would refuse to deal with a Palestinian government dominated by Hamas, saying "peace is never dead because people want peace".

He said the election had reminded people of "the power of democracy" and, in a reference to the alleged corruption that had characterised the previous government, he said the result was a wake-up call for Fatah and for the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas.

"Obviously people were not happy with the status quo," he said. "The people are demanding honest government. The people want services. And so the elections should open the eyes of the old guard there in the Palestinian territories."

But Mr Bush said as long as Hamas was committed to the destruction of Israel, no Hamas government, not even a democratically elected one, could be part of a peace process.
"We will watch very carefully about the formation of a government, but I will continue to remind people if your platform is the destruction of Israel, it means you're not a partner in peace, and we're interested in peace."

Martin Indyk, the Australian-born and educated former US ambassador to Israel during the Clinton administration, said the result of the Palestinian elections placed a big question mark over Mr Bush's foreign policy of spreading democracy. "Democracy has produced a Hamas victory and it may well have ended the peace process," he said.

Dr Rice left the door open for recognition, saying: "Anyone who wants to govern and do so with the support of the international community has got to be committed to a two-state solution and must be committed to Israel's right to exist."

Her challenge in the weeks leading to the Israeli poll in March will be to maintain the united front between the US and Europe on the need for Hamas to recognise Israel and renounce violence.