Mideast 'Quartet' Warns Hamas
The United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations warned the Hamas-led Palestinian government Thursday that it must recognize Israel and seek peace talks if it wants to be guaranteed continued aid.
"The Quartet concurred that there inevitably will be an effect on direct assistance to that government and its ministries" if those conditions are not met, the four mediators for Middle East peace said in a statement.
The new Palestinian government led by the Islamic militant group began work Thursday, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger (audio), already facing major challenges: namely, western isolation and a shortage of cash.
As soon as the government was sworn in Wednesday, the U.S. cut off contacts with the Palestinian Authority, and Canada suspended aid. Israel had already cut off $50 million dollars in monthly tax payments.
Hamas does not have the money to pay the salaries of 140,000 government employees that are due in few days.
In other developments:
The Quartet called in its statement on the new government "to commit to the principles of nonviolence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations."
That includes the internationally backed "roadmap" for peace, drafted by the quartet group, meant to draw up a final peace accord between the two sides.
"The Quartet recalled its view that future assistance to any new government would be reviewed by donors against that government's commitment to the principles" it had set out, the statement said.
After assessing the new government program, the four "noted with grave concern that the new government has not committed to the principles spelled out" earlier this year.
Zahar hinted that any country that shuns Hamas will be considered "an enemy of the Palestinian people" and he warned foreign ministry employees not to talk to them.
At the foreign ministry handover, the outgoing minister, Nasser Al Kidwa, ended up in a debate with his successor, Zahar, about the need for the Hamas government to abide by previous international agreements.
Zahar reiterated Hamas' stance that it would only abide by agreements it considered in the Palestinians' best interest. "Why do we have to preserve these agreements frozen or mummified and then worship them?" he asked.
Al Kidwa parried that international law and agreements were there to protect the Palestinians.
"International law is the line of defense for the Palestinian people, and the fact that one country does not abide by it does not belittle these agreements' importance, especially for the weak," he said.
"America is committing big crimes against the Arab and Islamic countries," Zahar told The Associated Press late Wednesday at his Gaza home. "This new decision will intensify the gap between the American people, American interests and the Middle East in general."
He also said the United States is spending $3 billion a year "to expand settlements and to confiscate our rights and our land," he said, referring to U.S. aid to Israel.
The Palestinian Authority gets a large part of its approximately $1.9 billion annual budget from overseas sources.
Arab countries said they would help close the gap by providing $55 million a month to the Palestinian Authority, but they have rarely met their previous pledges of assistance.
The fate of the EU's largest foreign aid program — worth more than $600 million — has been in the balance since Hamas scored a landslide parliamentary election victory on Jan. 25.
Since then, the EU has been at pains to see how their aid can remain a lifeline for 4 million destitute Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank without having to deal with the incoming Hamas government and keeping aid funds out of its coffers.
The United States lists Hamas as a terrorist organization and is by law forbidden to deal with such groups.
The United States said it was in the midst of a wide review of its Palestinian aid programs and would decide soon what programs to freeze.
"The principle is very clear. We're not going to fund a Hamas-led government, provide funding to a Hamas-led government," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday. "But we are going to look at what we can do to increase humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people and what mechanisms we can use to do that, to make certain that the money is not indeed supporting the Hamas-led government."
The four partners did back continued humanitarian assistance. "The Quartet encouraged continued humanitarian assistance to meet the basic needs of the Palestinian people," the statement said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore in the 24-member Hamas Cabinet on Wednesday night in a dual ceremony in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Ramallah that was connected by a video hookup. The Hamas ministers are not allowed to travel between the two territories because of Israeli travel bans on the militant group.
The travel ban made for an unorthodox transition.
Outgoing Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia was forced to turn his Ramallah office over to incoming Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer, because the new prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, was not allowed to travel there from Gaza.
Speaking in Gaza, Haniyeh said the seamless transfer was a testament to Palestinian democracy.
"This is proof that our people is a great civilized people, and the peaceful handover of power will now be a routine that our people will abide by," he said.