U.S. reverses its position on Hamas

The Bush administration, in a gesture to visiting Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, softened its stance on the militant group Hamas yesterday, saying it could survive if it transformed into a purely political organization.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell — who said last month that “It is no longer possible to separate one part of Hamas from another part of Hamas” and called Hamas an “enemy of peace” — told reporters in Washington yesterday:

“If an organization that has a terrorist component to it, a terrorist wing to it, totally abandons that, gives it up, and there is no question in anyone’s mind that is part of its past, then that is a different organization.”

The secretary’s latest remarks came as Mr. Abbas visited lawmakers on Capitol Hill and met separately with American Jewish leaders prior to a meeting with President Bush at the White House today.

Mr. Powell condemned Hamas for killing “innocent people” and for killing Palestinian hopes “for a state of their own.”

However, he praised the extremist group’s “social wing” for doing “things for people in need.”

Apart from its armed wing, which conducts armed attacks and suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, Hamas operates an extensive network of medical and other social services in the Palestinian territories.

Last month, during a trip to the Middle East to promote the U.S.-backed “road map” for peace, Mr. Powell dismissed an idea — proposed by some in the Palestinian Authority — that Hamas and Islamic Jihad be allowed to become political parties if they got rid of their military wings.

“Anyone participating in public life … would be individuals and organizations that are firmly committed to democracy, to the rule of law, and not to terrorism. Right now, Hamas is clinging to terror and celebrates the terrorist attacks we are seeing,” Mr. Powell said on June 20.

“And it is no longer possible to separate one part of Hamas from another part of Hamas,” he said.

A senior administration official said yesterday that there had been no shift in administration policy. But the official said that terrorists have been known to become “peaceful forces.”

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which are responsible for numerous suicide attacks on Israeli civilians, on June 29 agreed to a temporary cease-fire to allow for the implementation of the road map.

Mr. Abbas, who faces possible ouster if he returns from the United States without winning significant concessions from Israel and a concrete offer of support from Mr. Bush, told a group of Jewish community leaders yesterday he would be asking the U.S. administration for increased funds to compete with Hamas’ social work.

“What Secretary Powell said requires a leap of faith,” Judy Yudof, president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, said afterward.

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