From the Washington Times:
JERUSALEM — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday rejected calls for U.S. engagement with the militant Palestinian group Hamas and urged Palestinians not to vote for the group’s candidates in upcoming parliamentary elections.
“I frankly don’t think that it is the dream of mothers and fathers around the world that their children will be suicide bombers,” she said. “I don’t think it is the dream of people around the world that their children will have no future but one of violence.”
Miss Rice, may we refer you to Palestinian Media Watch, where you will find both the ideological justification and the celebration by many Palestinian parents over those very acts. The vows of Palestinian mothers to sacrifice their children for Islam are regular fare in the Palestinian media.
The parliamentary elections, which had been scheduled for July, were postponed indefinitely earlier this month.
Miss Rice, on her second visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories since assuming office in January, said after a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that Washington will only deal with nationally elected officials.
“There is an elected president and a government with which we are dealing,” she said at a press conference with Mr. Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah. “We are the government of the United States. This is the government of the Palestinian people.”
The secretary’s comments came after Hamas members disclosed Thursday that they had had regular contacts with European Union diplomats. Although EU officials in Brussels denied the contacts, they noted that dealing with Hamas may be hard to avoid since the group has won control of dozens of West Bank and Gaza towns in recent municipal elections.
Both the Unites States and the EU insist they still view Hamas as a terrorist organization…
But for how long?