Israel Matzav

Funding Hamas

Anyone out there want to fund Hamas? It seems that you're going to have to stand on line to do it. This afternoon, Iran announced that it would fund a Palestinian Authority run by Hamas after a meeting between Hamas' exiled leader Khaled Mashaal and the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani:

Larijani said the decision was taken after the United States said it would not provide aid to an authority governed by Hamas until the group renounced violence, recognized Israel and agreed to abide by existing agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.

"The United States proved that it would not support democracy after it cut its aid to the Palestinian government after Hamas won the elections. We will certainly help the Palestinians," Larijani said, according to the radio.

Mashaal said Tuesday that Iran will have a "major role" in Palestinian affairs. But Hamas leaders in the territories told The Jerusalem Post that they were "not rushing" to embrace that role.

I'm not quite sure what Mashaal and Larijani are complaining about. The 'quartet' announced last night that it would continue to fund the Hamas-led 'Palestinian Authority' "while there is an interim government:"

According to a Western diplomatic official familiar with the conversation, the Quartet agreed on the following points:

Financial support to the interim PA government should continue.

Humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians would continue.

The Quartet principals should increase their cooperation and talk each week.

Ways to support PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas needed to be determined

Quartet envoy James Wolfensohn is to provide a summary of the PA's financial requirements, potential sources of funding and the gap between what money is needed and what is available.
Wolfensohn's report, due Wednesday, is designed to give the Quartet an accurate picture of how much money the PA needs to keep it from financial collapse.

I guess this means that so long as the 'PA government' calls itself 'interim,' 'financial support' will continue. Even after that, 'humanitarian assistance' will continue. Since money is fungible, this will free up other funds to support terror activities. The principals will 'increase cooperation.' I guess this will mean that the other parties will follow the Russian lead and invite Hamas for 'talks.' As to supporting Abbas, let's face it folks, he lost the election. He may have lost it because Fatah was not unified and therefore Hamas candidates got in where Fatah carried the popular vote, but the bottom line is that he lost and he's about as lame a duck as can be.

I blame Ehud Olmert and his government for this. Had Olmert and Tzippi Livni gotten up an hour after the 'Palestinian election' results were announced and said, "The Palestinians have chosen and now they will live with the consequences of their actions. We will give them no funding. No aid - 'humanitarian' or otherwise. No one in or out of Gaza or the 'West Bank.' No electricity or water unless it is paid in full (the PA owes $50 million in unpaid electric bills)," the rest of the world would have followed that lead. But instead, Olmert started setting conditions under which Israel would talk to and negotiate with Hamas - conditions that will eventually be 'met' the same way Arafat met the conditions for talking to him in 1988 and 1993. The rest of the world is just following Olmert's lead. Weakness begets weakness.

Update: 6:00 PM

Meanwhile, Egypt, which at $2 billion per year is the second largest recipient of US foreign aid, today refused Secretary of State Rice's request to cut off aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Egypt's foreign minister, told her that Egypt believed funds to the Palestinian government should continue for an indefinite period, to give Hamas "time to develop their own ideas." Egypt gives little if any money to the Palestinians. Still, Washington considers Cairo's view to be influential, one reason Ms. Rice stopped here first.

"The Egyptians," a senior administration official said, "carry significant weight with the Palestinians and are watched by the rest of the Arab world." Administration officials said they had hoped that Egypt would back the American position.

Egypt's refusal to endorse the aid cutoff follows European misgivings and statements of concern late last week about cutting off funds and could significantly complicate Ms. Rice's mission.

The Egyptians are also attempting to link efforts to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons with exposing and destroying Israel's alleged nuclear weapons.

Another of Ms. Rice's major goals for this trip — to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — is to lock down commitments from the Arab leaders to stand firm against Iran's nuclear program. But once again, Egypt disappointed her.

Standing next to Ms. Rice at a news conference, Mr. Gheit reiterated a view Egypt offered during talks at the United Nations nuclear agency early this month over reporting Iran to the Security Council. Mr. Gheit said Egypt supported applying the same standard to all Middle East nations, not just Iran. That was a well-understood reference to Israel's secret nuclear weapons program.

The pressure on Israel is likely to be echoed by the other leaders Ms. Rice is to meet this week, including the foreign ministers of six Persian Gulf states who will be attending a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting while she is there. Egypt is the only one of those nations that has diplomatic relations with Israel; the other states generally hold more hostile views toward Israel.

Asked by an obviously sympathetic Egyptian journalist about the Egyptian formula for regional nuclear disarmament, Ms. Rice seemed to tilt her answer toward Israel when she said that "we all hope that one day the Middle East is peaceful enough that no one needs" nuclear weapons.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:41 PM