Hamas still government non grata

Presidential press secretary Scott McClellan today reiterated U.S. policy toward Hamas, saying the Bush administration would have no dealings with the new Palestinian government as long as it failed to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

"Reuters reports from Jerusalem that the government of Israel has announced 'Israel will have no contact with the Palestinian Authority, which is a hostile entity, and will work toward preventing any entrenchment of the Hamas government's rule,'" said WND. "My first part: Does the Bush administration find any fault in this statement or in Israel's firing shells into Gaza in response to Palestinians' firing rockets into Israel?"

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Responded McClellan: "Well, you need to direct those questions to the Israeli government about the actions that they take. I mean, I think we have expressed our views.

"Now, in terms of Hamas, I think we spoke to that issue most recently on Friday. The secretary of state put out a statement in terms of our assistance to the Palestinian people when it comes to meeting their humanitarian needs. We are increasing our efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, but what we will not do is have any dealing with an Hamas-led government. We will not fund or support them in any way as long as they are not abiding by the important principles that the Quartet outlined.

Continued the spokesman: "The Quartet said that they need to renounce violence, they need to recognize Israel, and they need to abide by the previous agreements of the Palestinian Authority. And until they make those commitments, we will not have anything to do with that government."

WND also asked about a report that 200 homosexual "families" would plan to attend this year's Easter Egg Roll at the White House.

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"There are guidelines that are in place for – tickets are made available so that families can come and bring their kids to participate in the Easter Egg Roll," McClellan told WND. "We welcome all those families that follow those guidelines that are in place."