US to maintain vital aid to Palestinians: envoy

Sat Feb 25, 8:48 AM ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The United States will continue to give humanitarian aid to ease the plight of the Palestinians despite militant group Hamas's victory in elections, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Saturday.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch said after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that the aid payments to ease the hardship of the Palestinians would be made via humanitarian organizations working in the region.

"The United States has long been a supporter of the Palestinian people, through a substantial contribution of our foreign assistance funds... we continue to be devoted to the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people and it shall remain so," Welch said.

"It is our belief that it is important for the people in the Palestinian territories ... to have a good life in safety and security with economic wellbeing," Welch added.

Earlier in Washington, President George W. Bush urged the international community to make clear to Hamas that it must recognize Israel's right to exist or else the Palestinian Authority which it would lead would be denied direct aid.

"The world is waiting to see what choice Hamas makes," Bush told U.S. military veterans.

Hamas's surprise January 25 parliamentary election win handed Abbas's long-dominant Fatah faction a crushing defeat and has dented U.S. hopes of reviving Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

Bush's comments followed a Middle East tour by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in which she faced resistance from Arab allies to withholding funding from a Palestinian government led by Hamas, a group Washington lists as a terrorist organization.

COMMITMENTS

The United States has led a faltering campaign to isolate Hamas since its election victory. But Hamas has so far not been swayed, saying Western threats to cut off aid amount to blackmail and alternative sources of funding can be found.

The Palestinian Authority is dependent on foreign aid and on tax revenues collected on its behalf by Israel to pay its 140,000 employees and keep its ministries and institutions functioning.

Washington has won commitments from major powers such as the European Union and Russia to demand that Hamas, renounce violence, recognize the Jewish state and live up to peace accords.

But Moscow and others have agreed to meet Hamas leaders and few countries have pledged to end assistance to the aid-dependent Palestinian Authority when the militants form a cabinet.

Israel has decided to stop handing over the tax revenues, worth between $50-$55 million per month because Hamas remains committed to its charter which calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

Welch said he told Abbas in their meeting that the United States would continue to support him. The Palestinian president, has so far been unable to persuade Hamas to openly declare an end to its armed struggle against Israel.

"I told him (Abbas) that our support for him and his leadership at this critical time facing the Palestinian people (will continue)," Welch said.

Hamas has masterminded nearly 60 suicide bombings against Israelis since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000, but has largely adhered to a truce declared last March.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington)

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