Christians Under Attack

last week's Palestinian parliamentary elections, saying it would be wrong to cut off contact with the terror group just because they may have killed people "in a way that we hate."

"You've got to find a way to at least open doors," Clinton told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Saturday. "And I don't see how we can do it without more contact."

In quotes picked up by the Associated Press, Clinton said Hamas might "acquire a greater sense of responsibility, and as they do we have to be willing to act on that."

He then complained: "One of the politically correct things in American politics ... is we just don't talk to some people that we don't like, particularly if they ever killed anybody in a way that we hate." Addressing complaints that Hamas has vowed to destroy Israel, Clinton explained: "We need to be practical here. ... It took the Palestinian Authority years before they took [the same vow] out of their charter."

In comments reported by Agence France Press, the former president said there was a good chance, instead, that Hamas "may wind up like the IRA and Sinn Fein."

He also argued that Palestinians who voted for Hamas weren't necessarily endorsing the terror group's aims.

"For every one person who said they voted for Hamas because they wanted to see Israel destroyed, there were one hundred who said they just wanted a change and better life," he insisted.