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Source: http://usinfo.state.gov/usinfo/Archive/2005/Aug/24-41933.html
U.S. Says PA Must Disarm Hamas
(State Department) Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch said Wednesday that it is critical that the Palestinian Authority disarm Hamas and other terrorist organizations in order to take advantage of the opportunity for progress toward peace presented by the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. "In the road map, there is a requirement to take steps toward the dismantlement of the terror organizations. Hamas is for us a terror organization. I would expect that the PA would do those things. We have made those requirements clear to them," Welch said. "Security is the beginning, the middle and the end, and security cannot be had either for the people in those areas or for those who live around them if there is a variety of armed organizations that are allowed to operate."