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US, EU Won’t Recognize Gov’t Including Hamas: Paper
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Palestinian boys sit under a big poster for Hamas as they attend a campaign rally in Rafah. (Reuters).
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CAIRO,
January 23, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – The United States and the
European Union have assured Israel they will not recognize any
Palestinian government in which Hamas participates, amidst reports
that the Bush administration was financially and otherwise helping
Fatah against the resistance group in this week’s legislative
election.
American
envoys who visited Israel about 10 days ago told Israeli officials
that recognizing such a government would violate American law,
Israel's Haaretz daily reported on Monday, January 23, citing
knowledgeable Israeli government sources.
Israel
has also received similar messages from Javier Solana, the European
Union's top foreign policy official, and Spanish Foreign Minister
Miguel Moratinos, who visited Israel last week, the sources added.
The
US, the EU and the Quartet Committee for Mideast peace have recently
joined forces against Hamas’s participation in the parliamentary
elections, the first in ten years.
The
US House of Representatives approved on December 16 a resolution
threatening the Palestinian Authority that it risked losing US
financial aid and other support if it allowed Hamas to contest the
polls.
Solana
said two days later that if Hamas won the elections, it would be
"very difficult that help and the money that goes to ... the
Palestinian Authority will continue to flow."
Joining
the chorus, the Quartet stressed that any future Palestinian
government should not include members of groups "not committed to
Israel's right to exist," a veiled reference to Hamas.
Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas's mainstream Fatah is widely expected to lose
ground to Hamas in the election, scheduled for Wednesday, January 25.
Experts
say Hamas, making its first bid for parliamentary seats, has been
riding a wave of popularity among Palestinians because of its
corruption-free reputation, extensive charity network and resistance
against the Israeli occupation.
The
US and Israel fear Hamas could make a strong enough showing against
dominant Fatah to win cabinet seats.
Popular
Barghuti
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The US pressed Israel into allowing popular Al-Barghuti to do interviews with Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. (Reuters).
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In
a related development, Israel's Yediot Aharonoth revealed on
Monday that the Bush administration had pressed Israel into allowing
jailed popular Fatah leader Marwan Al-Barghuti to do interviews with
the two main Arabic news channels, Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya.
Palestinian
sources told the Israeli daily that US officials who visited the
territories earlier in the month had promised Abbas to enable
Barghuti’s interviews, seizing on the charisma and soaring
popularity of the detained Fatah leader, seen by many as the father of
Al-Aqsa Intifada.
They
blamed Abbas for the anemic Fatah campaign against rising Hamas with
opinion polls showing a heated race between both, according to the
sources.
Barghuti’s
overwhelming popularity made it impossible to have anyone but him at
the top of the overall Fatah list, even above Prime Minister Ahmad
Qurei.
Despite
his detention, the West Bank Fatah leader served a reminder of his
enduring political clout by winning 96 percent of the vote in
primaries held in November to choose Fatah candidates.
In
his Sunday's interviews, Barghuti called for all parties to join a
broad coalition after the ballot.
Dressed
in a drab brown prison uniform, Barghouthi, 46, urged Palestinians not
to focus on whether Fatah defeats Hamas.
"We
should not think that the aim of 25th of January is the seats. There
is an upcoming aim we should be prepared for: A broad national reform
government with the participation of all."
Barghouthi,
tipped as a possible successor to Abbas, urged Israel to end its
military rule of the West Bank, where Palestinians seek to build a
state in land Israel occupied in the 1967 war.
"I
urge the Israeli people to realize that there is no future for this
occupation. This occupation is a burden. They should get rid of this
burden," said Barghouthi, serving five life sentences in Israel.
The
Palestinian MP considers his trial in Israeli courts illegal.
Gulf
Money
Yediot
Aharonoth has further disclosed that
US officials had promised Abbas that they would put pressure on Gulf
countries to contribute money to his campaign.
The
Israeli paper claimed that Fatah has so far raised dozens of millions
of dollars from Gulf states in support of its election campaign.
The
Washington Post and the New York Times reported on
Sunday, January 22, that the US Agency for International Development (USAID)
was involved in sponsoring the Fatah election drive.
The
two American dailies said that the Bush administration has spent
almost $2 million in a bid to bolster Fatah against Hamas.
The
Times cited US and Palestinians officials, who asked not to be
identified, as saying the program, which began in August, was aimed at
helping defeat Hamas.
The
Post first reported that the USAID was spending about $2 million
to finance projects ranging from tree planting to street cleaning and
providing computers for community centers.
The
projects were coordinated with Abbas and were meant to be associated with
him and the PA, the newspaper said.
IslamOnline.net
revealed
in December that the USAID had sent a message to Palestinian MP Nabil
Amr, saying it was ready to finance his and other lawmakers' electoral
campaigns on condition of maintaining their position against Hamas.
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