White House US waiting to see more on Hamas deal

WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) The United States is waiting to see if an apparent implicit recognition of Israel by Hamas is real, but the group must still renounce terrorism, White House spokesman Tony Snow said today.

Leaders of rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas, which came to power after January elections, have reached agreement on a political document that implicitly recognizes Israel. But the phrasing of the deal appeared to leave the Hamas movement some wriggle room on the issue.

''Let's wait until we see something for real,'' Snow told reporters.

''It's one of those vague things where people are doing a little bit of bargaining through the press,'' Snow said. ''If Hamas wants recognition it has to renounce terror and it has to abide by the other steps that we have talked about. Those are baseline conditions, then we can proceed from there.'' A State Department official said he had not seen the document Hamas had reportedly agreed to, but he also reiterated the US position that Hamas should agree to all the conditions laid down by the Quartet of mediating powers.

The Quartet has urged Hamas to recognise Israel, renounce violence and agree to previous accords between the Palestinian Authority and the Israelis. The United States has said it will not deal with Hamas unless it meets these conditions.

''I don't know whether this changes anything for us,'' said the State Department official, who spoke on condition he not be named.

''But anything which moves in the direction of accepting the Quartet's principles is a good thing. However, it is hard to figure out yet where this is all going.'' Palestinians have been hit by an international aid boycott imposed after Hamas won elections.

Reuters SHB BD2001