US Will Respect Elections if Hamas Wins

Secretary Condoleezza Rice Brussels, Belgium June 22, 2005
www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2005/48452.htm

SECRETARY RICE:… And, yes, we will stand with the Israelis for the principle that Israel should do nothing to try and prejudge final status. Because one way or another, at the time of final status, the boundaries of the new Palestinian state are going to have to be negotiated between the parties. So nothing that Israel does is going to prejudge that outcome.

The President has made clear that he believes that there have been certain realities that have changed since 1949 or since 1967, but that any changes in those boundaries are going to have to be mutually agreed and that will be the position of the United States at final status.

QUESTION: Is it still necessary, though, and is there anything the United States, I guess, can do to change Israel’s mind about some of the checkpoints? There are checkpoints when you cross from Israeli territory into the Palestinian territories. But there are — if you imagine this room as being within the Palestinian territories, there are sometimes checkpoints within this room, even though you are not stepping anywhere near Israel.

SECRETARY RICE: I do believe that there is more that Israel can do to allow freedom of movement for the Palestinians, and we’ve made that case. I also recognize that there are real security concerns here. You’ve seen incidents even very recently in the Gaza, and it’s particularly problematic when you have groups like Palestinian Islamic Jihad, by the way, operating with offices in Damascus, who say that they’re not going to respect the calm that President Abbas has tried to bring about.

But the way that we can move forward on this is that the Israelis are preparing to turn over whole cities to the Palestinians, and they should then really release the pressure around those cities so that Palestinians can move freely. They’ve released two and they’ve talked now about Bethlehem and Qalqilya. That should go forward. That will improve freedom of movement. When Israel leaves Gaza, starting in August, again if there is freedom of movement for Palestinians in a Gaza that is free of Israeli settlers and free of Israeli military forces, that is going to improve freedom of movement.

So we work at the micro level, kind of checkpoint by checkpoint. But we also look for these larger changes that will really improve freedom of movement for the Palestinians.

QUESTION: One of the groups that at least so far has honored the truce or cease fire, whatever you would call it, is Hamas. And we sat down with a Hamas leader who said that he could even see coexistence with Israel. Hamas politicians, as you know, are winning some of these local elections and the U.S. officials on the ground say they’re waiting for the State Department essentially to make a decision as to whether, if the mayor of a Palestinian town is affiliated and aligned openly with Hamas, can he get U.S. money? Can U.S. money to go to that mayor to build roads and build schools, or is he a terrorist?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, Hamas is a terrorist organization. We’ve listed it as such. As far as I know, Hamas has not yet changed a very important part of its doctrine, which is the destruction of the state of Israel or the use of terror. It continues to be armed. And to our mind, this is a difficulty for an emergent democratic state that is, after all, going to have to have a monopoly on violence, so to speak, of the state.

We’ll deal with the Palestinian Authority. I think that’s our best approach. They have an elected government through President Abbas. He is someone who won with 62 percent of the vote. And he won, John, not on a platform that said, let’s go for the destruction of Israel or I’ll turn your children into suicide bombers but, rather, on a platform that said that it is time for the armed intifada to end, it’s time to make peace with Israel. And I have to believe that that’s going to be also a popular approach, a popular platform throughout the territories.

QUESTION: The President said that, you have just said it, the President said it once in the Rose Garden. But since the President said it, Hamas has been gaining strength on the ground. And their leaders say that it’s hypocritical for the President of the United States to say, have a democracy, and then not respect the will of the Palestinian people if Hamas affiliated candidates are elected.

SECRETARY RICE: Well, there is an election to take place. And we have a policy that comes from a reality of what Hamas is and Hamas has done. The election will take place. It is going to be a Palestinian election with the Palestinians setting the rules for how that election takes place. And we’ll respect that.