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U.S. Wary of Palestinian Unity Government Plan

[Los Angeles Times] Paul Richter and Ken Ellingwood - Leaders of the radical Islamic Hamas and the rival Fatah faction announced this week that they were close to completing a deal they hoped would persuade the West to end an aid cutoff that had bankrupted the government and set off factional fighting. But U.S. officials noted Tuesday that the Palestinian proposal might not be enough to end the aid ban. An Israeli official said the deal seemed to be an effort to put a more presentable face on the government without making key changes or concessions, and that restoring aid would lift the pressure on Hamas just when the crunch was beginning to have an effect. "I think people in Washington are going to be pretty underwhelmed by it," said David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The Palestinians are "playing with words and trying to get the world to give them as much money as possible without being bound to anything."
2006-09-13 01:00:00
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