Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs written question – answered at on 3 May 2006.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Government's policy on relations with the newly elected Palestinian Authority.
We recognise Hamas's democratic mandate as a result of free and fair elections. But democracy means more than winning elections. With this mandate comes responsibilities. We want to take the peace process forward with the Palestinian Authority and Israel but we can only do so if everyone is committed to democracy and a two-state solution, not violence. As I told the House, on
'We will continue to do all that we can to impress on Hamas—the newly elected Government of the Palestinian people—that it should recognise the right of the state of Israel to exist, that it should renounce violence, and that it should stick to previous agreements that form the basis of the road map which we consider to be the best and indeed, at the moment, the only way forward'.
We will continue to work with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to take the peace process forward.
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No1 person thinks not
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