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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: March 7, 2006 |
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French President Jacques Chirac said Monday he is confident the radical group Hamas will change its ways and recognize Israel and renounce violence once it forms a Palestinian government.
Hamas has staunchly resisted international and Arab pressure to moderate its hardline stances as it prepared to draw up its new government following a surprise landslide in Palestinian elections in January. The European Union and United States have threatened to cut off any direct aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.
Chirac said Hamas has to come round to recognizing Israel and stopping militants from attacking the Jewish state because "one cannot recognize a government that uses violence as a policy."
"I hope that the discussions begun with Hamas by a certain number of parties can lead to this positive result," Chirac added, apparently referring to the recent Russian talks with Hamas leaders.
"Speaking truthfully, I don't doubt it because Hamas must now assume the responsibilities of democracy," Chirac added.
The French president said he was against imposing any international sanctions on the Palestinians in order to isolate Hamas. "I am hostile to sanctions in general, and in this case in particular, because I do not see why we would impose sanctions whose consequences would in reality be borne mainly by the Palestinian people," Chirac said.
A French diplomat in Paris said that Chirac was specifically addressing the question of sanctions, not a cut-off in EU aid.
France would oppose any move to impose sanctions such as freezing Palestinian bank accounts, preventing Palestinian leaders from traveling or stopping companies from working with Palestinian ones, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with French diplomatic tradition.
The European Union has said it will decide after the formation of a Palestinian government whether to cut off millions of dollars in direct aid to the authority, and the United States is already moving to do so. Both say that indirect aid to the Palestinians will continue, funneled through U.N. and other agencies rather than through the Palestinian government.
Before his visit to Saudi Arabia, Chirac said in an interview with the Arab daily Al-Hayat that "the continuation of European aid will depend on the attitude and policies of the new Palestinian government."
On other Middle Eastern issues, Chirac reiterated that Syria must cooperate "totally" with a U.N. investigation into the assassination of Lebanese former prime minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005.
While Syria repeated Sunday that it would cooperate fully with the inquiry, President Bashar Assad has so far indicated he is unwilling to be questioned by the U.N. investigators.
The inquiry, which is mandated by the U.N. Security Council, has twice asked for an interview with the Syrian leader. In two interim reports, the inquiry has said that Syrian intelligence officials were involved in the killing of Hariri, who died in a massive truck bombing in central Beirut.
Syria has rejected the reports as politically motivated and tried to discredit those who gave evidence to the commission.
France "condemns all those who question cooperation with the commission of inquiry" into Hariri's killing, Chirac said.
The French leader also said he was "disappointed" by Iran's responses to international concerns over its nuclear program. The Tehran government has rejected repeated calls for it to abandon uranium enrichment, a process that can produce material for nuclear power generators or warheads.
"We are not giving up," Chirac said.
He said Iran should have "legitimate and normal" access to civilian nuclear technology, but it should also respect international controls to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
Iran insists its nuclear program is intended only for generating electricity and denies it would use enrichment to make nuclear bombs.
The International Atomic Energy Agency met in Vienna on Monday to discuss the Iranian nuclear program. Last month, the U.N. agency voted to report Iran's nuclear program to the Security Council. |
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