LONDON – The United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia agreed Monday that financial assistance to the new Palestinian government, which will be led by the radical Islamic group Hamas, would be contingent on the government’s recognition of Israel and renunciation of violence.
But officials, gathered in London following last week’s resounding electoral victory by Hamas, appeared to avert an immediate showdown over money. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said funding would continue for the current Palestinian government, which U.S. officials said could remain in power in a caretaker role for up to three months while the new Hamas-led government takes shape. Some officials had feared an immediate cutoff would destabilize the government.
U.S. officials said they viewed Monday’s statement as a clear international warning to the group a day before President Bush gives his State of the Union address.
The statement from the “quartet,” as the Middle East peacemaking group is known, also appeared to represent a compromise position between U.S. officials and their European counterparts, who had been publicly skeptical of the hard-line approach advocated recently by Rice and Bush. Both have said in recent days that the United States would not give financial support to a government led by Hamas, which Israel, the United States and the European Union classify as a terrorist group.
“No aid for terrorists, that’s the basic message,” one senior Bush administration official told reporters. “This is a very tough statement.”
The official said the quartet’s position reflected the reality that other donor nations – the 25 member states of the E.U., for example – have diverse laws and political positions about how to approach Hamas, formally known as the Islamic Resistance Movement. While U.S. law forbids providing funds to a group designated as a terrorist organization, other nations have more ambiguous legal constraints, the official said.
The United States and Europeans have faced a conundrum over how hard to prod Hamas to change its policies. The Palestinian Authority is teetering on the edge of collapse and a complete cutoff of aid might provide an opening for Iran to exert its influence. Rice stressed Monday that the United States is “mindful” of the Palestinians’ humanitarian needs and that “everyone wants to see those needs met.” Little U.S. aid currently goes directly to the Palestinian government.
Javier Solana, the E.U. foreign policy chief, endorsed the call for Hamas to recognize Israel and renounce violence, saying, “Once these conditions are fulfilled, the European Union will stand ready to continue to support the Palestinian economic development and democratic stability.”
Much of the Palestinian Authority’s $1.6 billion annual budget comes from foreign donors. The United States gave $403 million for various Palestinian projects last year.
In Gaza City on Monday, a senior leader of Hamas urged donors to continue funding the Palestinian Authority once the radical Islamic group enters the government. “We are asking you to cooperate with our mission by keeping an open mind,” Ismail Haniyeh, the top candidate on Hamas’ national list in the parliamentary elections, told journalists at his house in a beachside refugee camp. “We are asking you to respect these results and respect the will of the Palestinians.”
At a news conference in London after more than two hours of talks, Annan said the new Palestinian government must “ensure law and order, prevent terrorist attacks and dismantle the infrastructure of terror,” as well as honor previous Palestinian commitments under a U.S.-backed peace plan known as the “road map.” That plan calls for a two-state solution in which Israel and a Palestinian state are officially recognized.
Rice said humanitarian aid would continue because Palestinians “deserve a better life.” But, she added, “it is incumbent now for all to insist that any future Palestinian government will live up to these obligations.”
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