RAMALLAH/GAZA CITY, 19 March 2007 — The United States said yesterday its ban on direct aid to the Palestinian government would remain in place but it broke ranks with Israel by authorizing contacts with some members of the new unity administration. The Israeli Cabinet voted overwhelmingly to uphold Israel’s boycott of the new government and Prime Minster Ehud Olmert called on the international community to adhere to sanctions imposed on the Palestinian Authority.
The US Consulate in Jerusalem said Washington would continue to shun Hamas ministers in the power-sharing Cabinet but permit contacts with non-Hamas members on a case-by-case basis depending on developments.
The decision to allow some contacts marked a shift in US policy and a break with Israel. “Individuals who are not members of foreign terrorist organizations but who do hold office in the unity government, we do not rule out contact with those individuals,” an embassy spokeswoman said.
She said Washington will also maintain ties with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas despite his decision to share power with Hamas. Abbas is due to meet US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on March 24 in Ramallah and again on March 26 in Amman, sources in Abbas’ office said.
“We were disappointed with (Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail) Haniyeh’s speech yesterday,” she said. While presenting his government’s program in Parliament on Saturday, Haniyeh reaffirmed Palestinians’ right to resist occupation.
“It was an opportunity to explicitly accept the Quartet principles and he did not take it.” The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators — the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia — has called on the Palestinian government to renounce violence, recognize Israel and honor past peace deals.
Speaking at the Cabinet meeting, Olmert said: “ Israel expects the international community to continue to impose sanctions on the Palestinian government until it accepts the three conditions set by the Quartet. We expect that the international community will not be misled by the creation of the coalition government.”
Olmert also said that he will not work with the new Palestinian government, but promised to maintain contacts with Abbas. He told the Cabinet that the program of the new coalition between the Hamas and Fatah movements falls short of the Quartet’s demands. “We can’t maintain contact with the government or its ministers when you consider that this is a government that does not accept the conditions of the international community,” he said.
Abbas meanwhile named Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan as his national security adviser, presidential aides said.
The appointment puts Dahlan, a top official in Abbas’ Fatah party, in a sensitive position as Palestinian leaders try to reform their myriad and competing security services. As Gaza security chief in the 1990s, Dahlan led a crackdown on Hamas activists. Hamas, which is now in the unity government with Fatah, still has rocky relations with Dahlan.
At the government’s inaugural meeting in the Gaza Strip, officials said their goal was to quickly put an end to factional fighting that has killed more than 300 Palestinians in the past year. “We know it is a difficult mission,” the new Palestinian information minister, Mustafa Barghouti, said.
— Additional input from agencies
