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Will Congress Agree to Ease Conditions on Aid to Palestinians?

[Congressional Quarterly] Adam Graham-Silverman - The administration is looking for a way to keep aid flowing if the Palestinians form a government that includes elements of Hamas, the militant anti-Israel group that controls Gaza. Obama wants to alter language in the fiscal 2009 spending law that makes the State Department worry about the possibility of a cutoff of aid to the Palestinian government should Hamas join Fatah in a power-sharing arrangement. Benjamin Chang, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said the change "would prohibit assistance to a government that does not accept the Quartet principles but would preserve the president's flexibility to provide such assistance if that government were to accept and comply with the Quartet principles," referring to requirements that a Palestinian government accept Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and abide by prior Israeli-Palestinian agreements. The new request appears to shift the burden of meeting the conditions from Hamas to the PA government. In a meeting in Israel on Thursday with Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), who heads the House Appropriations subcommittee with authority over funding for diplomatic efforts, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon warned, "We cannot allow these funds to reach the hands of the terrorists."
2009-04-20 06:00:00
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