From ABC News Online: Sunday, September 18, 2005. 6:08am (AEST)
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has threatened to withhold Israeli cooperation if the Islamic militant group Hamas takes part in Palestinian legislative elections, which are due in January.
---Mr Sharon says Israel could choose to leave roadblocks in place in the West Bank, making it difficult for voters to reach polling stations. . . .we completely oppose Hamas's participation in the elections as long as they haven't given up their weapons,' he said. 'In Gaza, we can no longer influence Hamas' participation ... but in other places, we won't cooperate with anything.'
He also says the radical movement, which has been behind most of the suicide bombings in the last five years of violence, needed to change its charter which calls for the destruction of Israel.
The Palestinian leadership has reacted angrily to Mr Sharon's threat. "The Palestinian election is an internal Palestinian issue," Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.
"All Palestinians have a right to participate in this election and in our political life. I think this is another Israeli tactic to stop the progress in the peace process."
. . .The US appears reluctant to get involved in the dispute, with US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack saying the issue needs to be resolved by the Palestinians.
"Palestinian people will need to resolve the fundamental contradiction of groups wanting to keep one foot in the political process and one foot in the camp of terror," he said. However, he stresses that under terms of the US-backed peace road map, which aims at ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Palestinian Authority was obliged "to dismantle terrorist networks".
But he says the US administration will work with both sides "to bridge any differences concerning the upcoming Palestinian parliamentary elections".
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