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America in the Middle East

Bush Administration: Lay off Hamas


By Ryan Jones
October 02, 2005

Israel needs to lighten up on its (already limited) war on terror, and allow the Palestinian Authority to deal with the killers of Jewish men, women and children in its own way and time, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested Friday.

And Israel Radio reported Sunday that the Sharon government had acquiesced, agreeing to relieve military pressure on ?Palestinian? terror groups to give PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas another chance to act against them prior to his visit to Washington on October 20.

Addressing a gathering at Princeton University, Rice reiterated the Bush Administration's firm position that Hamas is a terrorist organization that will ?eventually have to be disarmed.?

But at a time when the ?Palestinians? are going through ?transition...one has to give some space to the participants.?

The secretary was apparently speaking of the transition in leadership from Yasser Arafat to his longtime right-hand man, Abbas, who officially became ?president? in January of this year.

Some 56 Israeli Jews have paid with their lives for this ?transition? due to the fact Hamas is still not disarmed, despite a decade-old commitment by the PA to remove their weapons from them.

Rice reminded the PA that if Hamas participates in the democratic process, it will at some point have to lay down its weapons. She did not give any timetable for when she thought this should happen.

Israel last week launched a restrained rolling offensive against Hamas and Islamic Jihad after more than 40 Kassam rockets slammed into and around the Negev town of Sderot.

In that time, a handful of wanted terrorists have been eliminated, nearly 300 have been arrested, and Hamas positions in Gaza have been bombed.

Abbas complained during a visit to Cairo at the weekend that the Israeli actions were preventing him from negotiating the continuation of a temporary terrorist ceasefire.

[This ceasefire has been used to circumvent the PA's security obligations under the Oslo Accords ? Ed.]

He also criticized Washington for remaining virtually silent while IDF forces killed and detained known and armed terrorists.

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