OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, October 23, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Israel on Sunday, October 23, resigned to the participation of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas in the upcoming legislative elections, calling its differences with Washington over the issue as purely tactical.

"We will not prevent Hamas from participating in the election as we have no intention of intervening in the ballot," a senior Israeli government official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity.

The official, who is close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said there was "only a tactical difference" with Washington over the issue.

"There is only a tactical difference: we believe that Hamas cannot take part in elections as long as it carries out terrorism. The United States thinks otherwise, but agrees with us that any negotiation with Hamas should be ruled out."

Sharon has recently vowed to disrupt Palestinian legislative elections if Hamas fields candidates.

Israel had been hoping that US President George W. Bush would use summit talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, October 20, to pressure him to ban Hamas’s participation in the polls.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom had said that it would be "madness" for Hamas to be allowed to take part in the January polls.

Pundits have said that the Israeli military escalation in the Gaza Strip in September was aimed at provoking Hamas into attacking Israeli targets and eventually undermining its participation in the elections.

Hamas is widely expected to make a strong showing in the legislative polls at the expense of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' mainstream Fatah movement.

"I explained that we have a democracy and that movements of all political colors must be allowed to participate in the elections," said Abbas.

But the Palestinian leader managed to convince Washington to accept Hamas's standing in the January polls.

"I explained that we have a democracy and that movements of all political colors must be allowed to participate in the elections," he told AFP on Friday, October 21.

"I think I succeeded in getting my argument across to the president, to (Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice and to Congress."

The Palestinian leader said there would be no restriction on the Hamas candidates, denying a US press report that the group's politicians would have to sign a document promising to renounce violence before they could stand.

"That is not possible. I cannot impose any restriction on anyone who wants to stand as a candidate," he added.

Abbas said that the presence of Hamas in the January elections was a step toward the integration of the group into the institutions of the Palestinian Authority.

"We are proceeding step by step. First there was the ceasefire, then the ban on carrying arms in public and now they will be able to get into parliament and even be part of the government."

Palestinian resistance factions have been observing a de facto truce since Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was elected in January, an agreement that was cemented at talks brokered by Egypt last March.

Abbas played down reports that that Hamas's participation in the legislative elections would end the domination of his mainstream Fatah movement.

"Fatah is the main force on the Palestinian street. I think that with a little organization and discipline, it will win the elections. But Hamas should also get votes since opinion polls give it 23 percent of voting intentions," he said.

Hamas, which saw its popularity soaring during more than four years of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, entered electoral politics for the first time at the end of 2004.