WASHINGTON — President Bush on Thursday cast the stunning election victory by Hamas as a vote for clean, efficient government rather than an endorsement of violence against Israel. But it also was a graphic illustration of the perils of the president's push for greater democracy in the Middle East.
Elections in the last year have handed power to a hard-line government in Iran and to religious Shiite parties in Iraq. They have boosted the position of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
The vote in Palestinian territories Wednesday was perhaps the clearest example that elections do not necessarily result in governments friendly to Washington. Some analysts said the U.S. would have to rethink the entire approach.
Bush, speaking at a White House news conference, urged the weakened president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to stay in office despite the resounding defeat of his Fatah movement and to continue to work for peace.
However, Bush also seemed to leave open the possibility of a better relationship with Hamas. Though he declared that the United States would not deal with a political party "that articulates the destruction of Israel as part of its platform," he said he didn't regard the vote as an endorsement of terrorism.
He praised the election as a "wake-up call" to an old-guard Palestinian leadership that needed to change its corrupt and inefficient ways. He rejected suggestions that the vote was a setback for his strategy of using democratic reform to bring beneficial change.
"We're watching democracy spread across the Middle East," he said.
Yet it was clear that Hamas' victory had altered the diplomatic landscape overnight in a way that seems likely to diminish U.S. leverage in the search for Middle East peace.
Less than a month ago, the Bush administration lost its closest ally on the issue, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who suffered a stroke that ended his political career. Now Washington must deal with a Palestinian leadership that is officially opposed to the goal of negotiating a two-state peace deal with the Israelis.
