[Mb-civic] Vote Complicates Area's Diplomacy - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Vote Complicates Area's Diplomacy
Hamas Emerges as Significant Force Despite U.S. Efforts

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 26, 2006; A19

The Bush administration has strongly urged Palestinian leaders not to 
permit any Hamas members into the Palestinian cabinet, but yesterday's 
better-than-expected electoral showing by a group labeled a terrorist 
organization by the United States greatly complicates the 
administration's diplomacy in the region, U.S. officials said yesterday.

Hamas, which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel, appears to have 
ridden a wave of popular disgust at the perceived corruption and 
incompetence of the ruling Fatah Party. Exit polls indicate Fatah will 
have only a slim edge over Hamas in the Palestinian Legislative Council, 
giving Hamas a strong claim to a role in the government.

Fatah in theory may still be able to form a government that excludes 
Hamas -- formally the Islamic Resistance Movement -- but Palestinian 
President Mahmoud Abbas has expressed hope that by bringing Hamas into 
the political process, it will become a partner in seeking a peace 
accord with Israel.

The results also suggested the risks inherent in the Bush 
administration's campaign to bring democracy to the Middle East. 
Administration spokesmen officially celebrated the "historic moment" for 
the Palestinians while officials privately reeled at the outcome.

Bush administration officials had hoped Hamas would get as little as 20 
percent of the vote. The Washington Post reported Sunday that the United 
States had spent $2 million in recent weeks to promote the Palestinian 
Authority, and by extension Fatah, in a campaign that kept U.S. 
involvement hidden. Before yesterday, officials were bracing for Hamas 
to receive 30 to 40 percent of the vote; exit polls indicated that Hamas 
topped 40 percent of the seats.

U.S. officials, from President Bush on down, reiterated that the United 
States will not deal with Hamas as long as it does not renounce violence.

"A political party, in order to be viable, is one that professes peace, 
in my judgment, in order that it will keep the peace," Bush said in an 
interview with the Wall Street Journal yesterday. "And so you're getting 
a sense of how I'm going to deal with Hamas if they end up in positions 
of responsibility. And the answer is: not until you renounce your desire 
to destroy Israel will we deal with you."

Bush's statement left open the possibility that the United States would 
not reject a Palestinian government that includes Hamas, but instead 
that the United States would not work directly with cabinet ministers 
who have Hamas connections. There is a precedent for this approach: The 
Bush administration already works with the Lebanese government, even 
though one cabinet member is a member of Hezbollah, also labeled a 
terrorist group.

The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Dick Jones, was quoted this week in the 
Israeli newspaper Haaretz as saying the Lebanese model might serve as a 
guide for dealing with the Palestinian Authority if Hamas joins the 
government. Jones has told officials in Washington the remarks were made 
at a dinner party and were taken out of context.

One major issue is that the United States has much more extensive 
dealings with the Palestinian Authority than it does with Lebanon. Hamas 
has indicated it would like to obtain ministerial portfolios that touch 
on social services, raising questions about whether some of the hundreds 
of millions of dollars in annual U.S. aid could continue to flow to 
certain public works projects if they are overseen by a Hamas cabinet 
member.

Moreover, with Israel facing critical elections in March, the 
administration must deal carefully with the emerging Palestinian government.

The administration must also hold together its allies in the peace 
process, particularly the European Union. Last late year, the sponsors 
of the "road map" peace plan, known as the Quartet, issued a statement 
saying that "a future Palestinian Authority cabinet should include no 
member who has not committed to the principles of Israel's right to 
exist in peace and security and an unequivocal end to violence and 
terrorism."

But that statement was not categorical, and some European officials have 
indicated in recent days that instead of the black-and-white view 
expressed by the United States, perhaps Hamas needed greater 
encouragement to make a break with its past, much like the Irish 
Republican Army. One U.S. official sighed that the European Union was 
like the "International House of Pancakes -- there are a ton of waffles 
there."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet in London next week with 
her counterparts from the European Union, Russia and the United Nations 
to try to reach an agreement. "There will be a very healthy debate about 
how to encourage Hamas to eschew violence and get into the political 
process," one diplomat involved in the discussions said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/25/AR2006012502100.html?nav=hcmodule
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