RAMALLAH (West Bank): US President George W. Bush said on Thursday that the Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip has delivered nothing but misery to the Palestinian people.
"There is a competing vision taking place in Gaza and in my judgement Hamas (who) I felt ran on a campaign that 'we're going to improve your life'... have delivered nothing but misery," he said at a joint press conference with president Mahmud Abbas.
Hamas swept away Abbas's long-dominant secular Fatah party in parliamentary polls in January 2005. In June 2007, it routed pro-Fatah forces in the Gaza Strip after a week of deadly factional street clashes.
The rout has split the Palestinians in two, with Western-shunned Hamas ruling Gaza and Western-backed Abbas controlling the West Bank.
Bush said that there was 'a clear difference (between) the vision of Hamas in Gaza and the vision of the president and his team right here in Ramallah'.
