U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday demanded that Hamas and groups like it be taken out of business, saying that only then will there be "a chance for peace."
The US leader also reacted skeptically to the reported agreement of Palestinian groups to halt attacks on Israelis for three months. "I'll believe it when I see it," Bush said.
"The true test for Hamas and terrorist organizations is the
complete dismantlement of their terrorist networks, their capacity to blow up the peace process," Bush said at a news conference with European Union leaders.
"It's one thing to make a verbal agreement," he said. "But in order for there to be peace in the Middle East, we must see organizations such as Hamas dismantled, and then we'll have peace, we'll have a chance for peace."
Hamas and the Islamic Jihad were among the groups apparently signing on to the agreement. An official with one of the groups, however, said the deal was not final, AP reported.
Bush said he did not know details of the reported deal, but said he was dubious about it, "knowing the history of the terrorists."
Bush's comments came as two Palestinian civilians were killed and another 16 were hurt in an Israeli copter strike in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources said. According to the sources, a car near the town of Khan Yunis was hit in the attack, killing a man and woman.
Palestinian sources said that the attack was an assassination attempt against a Hamas activist Mohammed Siyam, who was seriously wounded in the strike.
On his part, Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi on Wednesday denied earlier reports stating that top leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad had agreed to halt attacks against Israelis for three months.
An Islamic Jihad official also denied the reports, calling them "all lies."
"In the coming days we will have an answer, and... Israeli terrorist actions will be taken into account when we decide," Rantisi said, referring to the latest Israeli missile strike.
"Every time we near a decision [Israel] slaughters more of our people," the Hamas leader said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
