European reaction: European leaders said yesterday that Hamas must renounce violence or risk international isolation.
French prime minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters the "indispensable conditions" for France to be able to work with any Palestinian government included "the renunciation of violence and . . . the recognition of Israel".
Hamas is listed as a terrorist organisation by the EU.British prime minister Tony Blair said Hamas had won a powerful mandate but must now decide "between a path of democracy or a path of violence".
Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, a close ally of Israel, said a Hamas victory would be "very, very negative.
"Everything that we have hoped for regarding peace between Israel and Palestine would be put back to who knows when."
EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the EU should make clear it will work "with any government if that government is prepared to work for peace, by peaceful means".
But EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who represents EU governments, responded more cautiously, saying the result "may confront us with an entirely new situation which will need to be analysed by the Council [ of EU foreign ministers] next Monday".
UN secretary general Kofi Annan said any group wanting to take part in democratic politics should disarm.
Mr Annan said he looked forward to working with a duly elected Palestinian government, adding that he had called Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to congratulate him on how the election had been organised. His spokesman said the secretary general "views these elections as an important step towards the achievement of a Palestinian state".
Russia's special envoy to the Middle East, Alexander Kalugin, said Moscow's policy was to co-operate only with Palestinian authorities who reject the use of force. "Our position is that you cannot co-operate with people that proclaim the goal of destroying their neighbour," he told Ekho Moskvy Radio.
The Russian foreign ministry, in a statement posted on its website, said: "In Moscow we see the election . . . as a major event on the road to the democratisation of Palestinian society and the creation of the institutions of a future state."
Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf urged Hamas to avoid a "confrontational course" but said the world should keep a door open to the movement. - (Reuters)