bush and his tactics

Bush to shun Hamas until it changes Israel stance
Jan 25
yahoo.com/s/nm/20060125/pl_nm/mideast_bush_dc

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Wednesday said he would not deal with Hamas unless the militant group which made a strong showing in the Palestinian election renounced its stance on Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"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 told the newspaper in an interview Wednesday morning, before polls closed in the election. A portion of the interview was posted on the Web site http://online.wsj.com/public/article/washington_wire.html

"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 was quoted as saying.

Hamas's charter calls for the destruction of Israel. The dominant Fatah movement has projected that it won 46 percent of the vote compared to more than 30 percent for Hamas.