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Bill clinton says hamas could be effective Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=akn3ecnM2DUQ&refer=top_world_newshttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=akn3ecnM2DUQ&refer=top_world_news
Clinton Urges Hamas to Renounce Violence as It Forms Government
Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton called on Hamas to renounce violence as it prepares to form a government after winning Palestinian parliamentary elections.
``They can be an effective political force if they deliver to the people what some of their mayors do and if they are viewed as responsible and non-violent,'' Clinton said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. ``I don't see how they can expect the support of the rest of us'' as long as they stay committed to the destruction of Israel.
Hamas wrested control of the Palestinian Legislature from the secular Fatah party in the Jan. 25 elections. The U.S. labels Hamas a terrorist organization and contact with members of the group is forbidden by law. At a session in Davos, Clinton said he supports U.S. President George W. Bush's decision not to work with Hamas until they renounce destruction of Israel.
Bush yesterday said the U.S. would withhold aid, and the European Union pledged this week to continue its financial support of Hamas while stressing that it expects the new Palestinian leadership to commit to peace with Israel.
The Palestinians rely heavily on two external sources of income: Israeli-collected taxes on Palestinian goods and aid that comes primarily from Europe.
Iran
One country that could pick up the slack if the Europeans and the U.S. cut aid is Iran. Iran has provided Hamas and other Palestinian groups with ``funding, safe haven, training and weapons,'' the State Department said in its last annual report on state sponsors of terrorism.
Clinton said in a public meeting in Davos that neither Bush nor the rest of the world ``have any particularly pleasant options'' in dealing with Iran's efforts to build nuclear technology.
While he supports, ``exhausting all diplomatic means,'' the world ``should not rule out sanctions at the UN and not rule out any other option.''
Iran, the Middle East's No. 2 oil producer after Saudi Arabia, resumed research earlier this month on the nuclear fuel cycle. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes: to create energy. The U.S. and European Union say they are concerned that Iran's aim is to build a nuclear weapon.
Clinton also said the U.S. should not consider an immediate withdrawal of forces from Iraq because the world has a stake in preventing the country from becoming a haven for terrorists.
``We should not precipitously say let's give this thing up, it won't work,'' Clinton said. ``If this thing works it will be a good thing for the world.''
The former president, whose wife, New York Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton is a potential presidential candidate in 2008, said the issue of whether the U.S. was right or wrong to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein is ``irrelevant'' now.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael McKee in Davos
Last Updated: January 28, 2006 10:11 EST
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