GAZA CITY, 27 January 2006 — In a political earthquake, Hamas, which is sworn to the destruction of Israel, yesterday swept Palestinian legislative elections. The United States said the Palestinian resistance group cannot be a partner for peacemaking with Israel without renouncing violence while Tel Aviv appealed to the European Union to take a firm stance against what it called the establishment of a “terrorist government.”
Iran congratulated Hamas for its election victory and praised voters for choosing “to continue the struggle and resistance against occupation.”
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei resigned as Election Commission results for Wednesday’s elections showed Hamas winning 76 seats against Fatah’s 43 in the 132-member legislature. President Mahmoud Abbas accepted Qorei’s resignation but asked him to continue till a new Cabinet is formed, Palestinian officials said.
The president also asked Hamas to form the next government.
In the streets of Gaza, Hamas activists embraced, fired guns in the air and handed out sweets. “Mohammad Deif should be our defense minister,” screamed one Hamas supporter from a car window, referring to the Hamas military leader who tops Israel’s wanted list. Activists waved green Hamas flags. “Congratulations and victory for Islam,” some of them said as they embraced.
Amid heightened tension, Fatah supporters clashed with triumphant Hamas activists who briefly hoisted a green Hamas flag at the entrance to the Palestinian Parliament in Ramallah.
In its first official comment on the poll result, Israel urged the European Union to take a firm stance against the establishment of a Palestinian “terrorist government.” “After the takeover by Hamas of the Palestinian Authority, it is incumbent on the European Union to speak out clearly and unequivocally that there will be no European understanding of a process that would mean the establishment of a terrorist government,” Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said.
Leaders of the EU, the biggest donor to the aid-dependent Palestinian Authority, said earlier Hamas must renounce violence and recognize Israel or risk international isolation.
In Washington, Bush said Hamas’ victory was a sign Palestinians were unhappy with the status quo and showed democracy at work, which was positive for the Middle East.
But he made clear he was sticking to Washington’s view of Hamas as a terrorist group. “I don’t see how you can be a partner in peace if you advocate the destruction of a country as part of your platform,” Bush told a White House news conference. “You can’t be a partner in peace if... your party has got an armed wing.”
Hamas’ politburo chief Khaled Meshaal telephoned Abbas to affirm “a commitment to partnership with all the Palestinian forces, including the brothers in the Fatah movement.”
But Jibril Rajoub, a senior Fatah official, rejected any coalition with Hamas, a group that Abbas had said he hoped to bring into the political mainstream and persuade to disarm.
“The Islamic republic of Iran congratulates Hamas and all the Palestinian soldiers and the great Islamic people,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in a statement. “The result of these elections will reinforce the unity of the Palestinian people in defending their rights.”
