Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the
United States is sending $10 million in emergency medical aid to the
Palestinians, but is maintaining its hard line against direct aid to the
Hamas-led Palestinian government. Rice held talks at the United Nations in
New York Tuesday with other members of the international Middle East
Quartet and Arab foreign ministers.
The new U.S. commitment of emergency medical aid came amid reports of
worsening humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian areas, and pressure
from other Quartet members for action to ease the Palestinian Authority's
financial crisis.
But in a talk with reporters in between morning
and afternoon Quartet meetings, Secretary Rice insisted again that the
economic dilemma is of the Hamas-led Palestinian government's own making,
because it has spurned
calls from the Quartet and others to accept international terms for Middle
East peacemaking.
"No one wants to have to deal with a Palestinian government that, when
there is a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, finds that reason to celebrate,"
said Ms. Rice. "That simply is not the appropriate course. And so we will
talk about how to make clear that the responsibility for the situation in
the Palestinian territories is indeed the responsibility of the
Palestinian government, but what we can do also to alleviate the
circumstances in which the Palestinian people find themselves."
Shortly after the Hamas election victory in January, the Quartet - the
United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - said
donors should not assist the Hamas-led government unless it accepted
Israel's right to exist, renounced violence and embraced previous
Palestinian commitments including the Quartet's 2003 peace road map.
Hamas, responsible for scores of anti-Israeli suicide bombings and
other acts of terrorism in past years, has maintained a cease-fire with
Israel but has spurned the terms set by the Quartet.
With the Palestinian economy in a tailspin because of a lack of outside
aid, some Quartet members and others have pressed for an easing of curbs
on assistance, perhaps allowing salaries of Palestinian civil servants to
be paid through a fund run by the World Bank.
Secretary Rice said no one wants to see the Palestinian people suffer,
and said the Bush administration is sending the $10 million worth of
medical supplies because of its concern about the humanitarian situation
in the West Bank and Gaza.
But she said Hamas has a choice to make, and if it is to govern
effectively it will have to come into line with peacemaking terms she said
were not just of the Quartet but the consensus of the international
community, including the Arab League.
As the Quartet convened, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
appealed for an end to what he termed an economic boycott against the
Palestinian people.
Palestinian officials say banks are refusing to
deal with the Palestinian Authority out of fear
of U.S. anti-terrorism sanctions, and
that recent aid pledges by several Arab countries and Iran cannot be
delivered.
The Quartet ministers met Tuesday morning with foreign ministers of
Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt and held private consultations later.
European Union External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner
told reporters the EU agrees with Washington that the Palestinian
government bears the primary blame for the economic situation. But she
said others have responsibility, notably Israel, which she said should
stop impounding tax and customs money owed to the Palestinian
Authority. |