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Kerry Sought to Change U.S. Policy toward Funding Hamas

(Daily Beast) Josh Rogin and Eli Lake - Secretary of State Kerry has been furiously working on a Mideast cease-fire, but when Kerry sent the Israeli government his draft cease-fire proposal on July 25, the Israeli cabinet rejected it unanimously. Moreover, a senior Palestinian Authority official said Kerry's plan was an attempt to destroy the Egyptian cease-fire proposal. Israeli officials and experts said Kerry's proposal altered the Egyptian cease-fire in many important ways, and in one case altered long-standing U.S. policy toward the funding of Hamas. The Kerry proposal committed to "transfer funds to Gaza for the payment of salaries of public employees." Israeli and U.S. officials said the understanding was that money would be given to Hamas by the government of Qatar. A senior U.S. official said that the American government doesn't like Qatar providing money to Hamas, which is still officially designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department. But Kerry was trying to reach Hamas and he believes this was the best way to influence them. Matthew Levitt, a former senior Treasury Department official, said: "We've had a long-standing policy of proactively combating the financing of Hamas and the U.S. government has done a lot in this regard."
2014-07-30 00:00:00
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