Printer friendly version     Send to a friend

Respect Victory of Hamas, Regional Leaders Say
Wait-and-see stance urged

26 January 2006 - Davos, Switzerland

Leaders from key Muslim countries at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting on Wednesday urged the outside world to respect the victory of Hamas in the Palestinian legislative elections and give the group time to show if it is ready to work for peace among all the peoples of the Middle East.

“We call for people to participate (in choosing their governments) and call it democracy, ”Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, told a Forum session on Muslim Societies in the Modern World. “If the people of Palestine have voted for Hamas, we should respect that choice.”

“The reality is that Hamas has won. It has been chosen by the people, so we should accept that reality,” said Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan. “This reality has to be accepted on the Israeli side. (But) I hope that they (Hamas) will shun the path of confrontation and go towards negotiations with Israel.”

Queen Rania of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan said that although the result was a vote for Hamas, it was also a vote against the conditions in which Palestinians have been forced to live under Israeli occupation. “It is an example of when people are frustrated and have no hope for the future they tend to go for the extreme end of the spectrum.”

It now remains to be seen if Hamas will pursue their policies of violence or seek other ways of achieving freedom for Palestinians, she added.

Hajim Alhasani, President of the Iraq National Assembly, said that bringing Hamas into the political process should serve democracy. “There will be pressure on them to modernize and be democratic, or they will be out of the political game,” he told the session.

Alhasani recalled that the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had long been labelled a terrorist, but eventually emerged sharing a Nobel Peace Prize with then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. People and parties can change as the circumstances change, he declared.

Musharraf said the outside world should put pressure on both a Hamas administration in Palestine and Israel to work together. Israel should be urged to accept the reality of a Palestinian homeland. Hamas, as a radical movement, could prove to be the power that can bring peace. “Let us give them a chance,” he added.

“Hamas should recognize that the people of Israel are a nation,” said Karzai, just as the Israelis should accept the existence of a Palestinian nation. Hamas should see that Israelis are people, “with families and children like all of us.”


Notes to Editors:
· Everything about the Annual Meeting 2006 can be found here: www.weforum.org/annualmeeting
· Here are the key Participants: www.weforum.org/annualmeeting/participants
· In depth Interviews with key business participants are here: www.weforum.org/annualmeeting/indepth
· The entire Programme can be downloaded here: www.weforum.org/annualmeeting/programme
· Follow the discussions and read the Session summaries here: www.weforum.org/annualmeeting/summaries2006
· Watch the key debates live in our Webcasts at: www.weforum.org/annualmeeting/webcasts
· Download key debates as Podcasts or Audio Blogs at: www.weforum.org/annualmeeting/podcasts
· Leave your comments in our Weblog at: www.forumblog.org
· Subscribe to or download Press Releases here: www.weforum.org/pressreleases
· Download print-quality high resolution Photographs of the Annual Meeting free of charge here: www.swiss-image.ch/forum (login: world; password: forum)

Printer friendly version     Send to a friend