The White House hailed the Palestinian parliamentary election as ‘historic’ and declined to restate past opposition to seeing the Islamist radical group Hamas win seats.
‘It's a historic and significant day for the Palestinian people. We strongly support the Palestinian people as they transition to a democratic state, and we support their efforts to build democratic institutions,’ said spokesman Scott McClellan.
Asked whether Washington was concerned about Hamas winning seats, McClellan replied: ‘Well, we'll see how the elections turn out. I think we've made our views very clear when it comes to Hamas, and our views remain unchanged.’
The United States warned the Palestinians as recently as last week that including Hamas in any new government could affect US-backed efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state.
Israel has opposed any electoral role for Hamas, which refuses to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist and has been responsible for the bulk of attacks on Israelis since their latest conflict broke out in September 2000.
Hamas is supported by some Palestinians because its non-military branch carries out considerable social work.