World reactions to the Hamas victory

World leaders are saying — now — that Hamas must disarm.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw urged Hamas to renounce violence and recognize Israel following its success in the Palestinian legislative elections.

“Hamas has to understand that with democracy goes renunciation of violence,” Straw said on a visit to the Turkish capital.

“It is up to Hamas to choose. We will have to wait and see, the international community will want Hamas to make a proper rejection of violence and to acknowledge that Israel exists,” Straw said.

[…] However EU envoy Javier Solana was more explicit and stressed Hamas must disarm, end violence, and recognize Israel’s right to exist in order to keep Palestinian-European ties in tact.

Solana said there was a complete contradiction between violence and the establishment of a democratic state.

Yes, there’s more:

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters the “indispensable conditions” for France to be able to work with any Palestinian government included “the renunciation of violence and … the recognition of Israel”.

[…] Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds called on Hamas to “radically change its politics, otherwise Sweden and the EU cannot cooperate with the incoming Palestinian government”.

“They must distance themselves from all use of violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist in order for the rest of the world to support the Palestinians,” she said.

Gee, big shock here on the Russian reaction:

“Our general policy of cooperation with the Palestinian Authority is unchanged. We will judge the future government by its deeds. We are counting on the course chosen by Abbas continuing,” Russia’s special envoy to the Middle East, Alexander Kalugin, told Interfax.

And here’s Javier Solana in Reuters, already contradicting what he said to the AP:

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the EU, the biggest aid donor to the Palestinian Authority, should make clear it would work “with any government if that government is prepared to work for peace by peaceful means”.

But EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who represents EU governments, responded more cautiously.

“These results may confront us with an entirely new situation which will need to be analyzed by the Council (of EU foreign ministers) next Monday,” he said in a statement.

I stand by my prediction of war. The question is whether or not Iran will openly jump in and launch missiles at Israel, rather than letting its proxy in Lebanon — Hizbullah — take care of it. When? I don’t know. Count on retaliation if Iran’s nuke sites are bombed.

The world is less safe today than it was yesterday.