The “Quartet” guiding the Israeli-Palestinian peace process will not replace its envoy for now because of Hamas intransigence. James Wolfensohn, the former World Bank president, until this week represented the diplomatic grouping of the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations. He quit because of the election of the terrorist group Hamas to power in the Palestinian Authority, and Condoleeza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state, said the group’s refusal to recognize Israel or renounce terrorism meant he would not be replaced for the time being. “If we believed that conditions were such that a special envoy could really do his work at this particular time, we wouldn’t be seeking a replacement — Jim Wolfensohn, I hope, would be staying,” Rice said Monday at Wolfensohn’s farewell at the State Department. “And so that’s why there isn’t a replacement.”
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