Bush's Hamas Fatwa: "My view is we don't have a partner in peace"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Bush warns over Hamas funding

By Nidal al-Mughrabi
Tue Feb 21, 5:11 PM ET

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060221/ts_nm/mideast_dc

GAZA (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Abbas asked Hamas on Tuesday to form a new Palestinian government and pursue his agenda of negotiating with Israel, but the militant Islamic group said talks with the Jewish state would be a waste of time.

U.S. President George W. Bush said a Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority should not be funded until it recognized the right of Israel to exist.

"So long as Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist, my view is we don't have a partner in peace and therefore shouldn't fund a government that is not a partner in peace," Bush told reporters flying with him from Colorado to Washington.

Egypt told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the United States should give Hamas more time to change before it carries out a threat to withdraw aid.