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Thursday, April 14, 2005
White House: OK if Hamas controls PLC- "business professionals...not terrorists"

For Immediate Release
April 13, 2005
White House Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
James S. Brady Briefing Room
www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/04/20050413-1.html#12

MR. McCLELLAN: ... If we are successful there in the Gaza, it provides a
real opportunity to move forward on the road map and to move forward on the
President's two-state vision. But we've got to make sure that there is --
and the world has a responsibility to help in those efforts to make sure
that the Palestinians are able to move in and self-govern that area, and
begin moving forward on additional measures to have institutions in place
for a viable democracy to emerge. And so that's really where the focus was.

...
Q Scott, on the road map, can you identify even one Palestinian terrorist
group that has been disarmed by the Palestinian Authority in accordance with
the Bush administration's own road map? And I have a follow-up.

MR. McCLELLAN: I think it's important to look at some of the steps that have
been taken. And the President talked about President Abbas the other day in
the news conference. We look forward to having President Abbas visit
Washington again so the President can talk to him about what we can do to
support them in their efforts to move forward on the two-state vision that
he outlined. But there have been some steps taken to address the security
situation.

It's important that they have a unified security structure. General Ward has
been in the region working closely with the Palestinians to help put those
security forces in place and have a unified structure to address some of
these issues. But the road map is very clear in what it says. We've been
very clear in what our views are, as well. And it's important that the
parties meet their obligations.

Q In the event that Hamas, a terrorist organization not yet disarmed by the
PA, wins a majority in the legislative PA, will the Bush administration
still send $350 million U.S. taxpayer dollars to the PA, or not?

MR. McCLELLAN: Les, it's -- the one thing that you see when people have
elections that are free and fair is that they tend to choose people who are
committed to improving their livelihood, not people who are committed to
terrorist acts. And I think if you look back at the previous Palestinian
elections, the people that were elected, while they might have been members
of Hamas, they were business professionals. They were people that ran on
talking about improving the quality of life for the Palestinian people and
addressing their economic needs and addressing other needs that are
important to them -- not terrorists.

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