US Warns PA to Cut Ties with Hamas or Lose All Aid

April 30, 2014

3 min read

Senior Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk (L) senior Fatah official Azzam Al-Ahmed (2nd L), head of the Hamas government Ismail Haniyeh (3rd L) and deputy speaker of Palestinian Parliament Ahmed Bahar attend a meting in Gaza City on April 22, 2014. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) sent a delegation to Gaza on Tuesday to negotiate unity with militant group Hamas for the first time since their 2007 conflict, potentially boosting Fatah leader and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's position. (Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
Senior Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk (L) senior Fatah official Azzam Al-Ahmed (2nd L), head of the Hamas government Ismail Haniyeh (3rd L) and deputy speaker of Palestinian Parliament Ahmed Bahar attend a meting in Gaza City on April 22, 2014. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) sent a delegation to Gaza on Tuesday to negotiate unity with militant group Hamas for the first time since their 2007 conflict, potentially boosting Fatah leader and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s position. (Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

US lawmakers and officials warned Palestinian leaders that they would risk giving up millions of dollars in US sponsored aid should they continue to form a unity government with the Hamas terrorist group.

In a House hearing, Assistant Secretary for the Near East Anne Patterson said, “Let me be utterly clear about our policy towards Hamas. No US governmental money will go into any government that includes Hamas until Hamas accepts the Quartet conditions. And that’s renouncing violence, recognizing previous agreements and most explicitly recognizing Israel’s right to exist.”

Representative Ted Deutch stated that any government that includes terrorists will not receive US funding. In a hearing into the 2015 budget priorities for the Middle East and North Africa, Deutch said, “Let me be clear: No Palestinian government that includes terrorist members of Hamas can or will receive US funding.”

Sub committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said that the new deal has “major implications.” The Obama administration is “seeking over $440 million in direct bilateral assistance for the Palestinians Authority and the West Bank and Gaza,” she explained.

Palestinian funding is now in major jeopardy. The US government has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization since 1993. Ros-Lehtinen explained that US law is clear – “it cannot send funds to a Palestinian government that includes members of the terrorist group Hamas.”

Always considered rival factions, Hamas and the Fatah led PLO announced a surprise national unity deal in which both seek to unite against Israel. Leaders from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank met with Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip to finalize a partnership after many years of fighting.

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The unity deal was the final Palestinian blow to the last round of US brokered peace negotiations, which officially expired on Tuesday. Israel renounced the deal and immediately cancelled all peace talks with the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, backed by his cabinet and Israeli governmental leaders across the political spectrum, stated that he would never negotiate with terrorists.

“The cabinet has decided unanimously that it will not negotiate with a Palestinian government that incorporates Hamas, a terrorist organization that seeks the destruction of Israel,” a government statement said.

“Instead of choosing peace, Abu Mazen [Abbas] formed an alliance with a murderous terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel,” the prime minister said.

On Satruday, in a speech to PLO leaders, Abbas said that the new government would reject violence, recognize Israel and uphold existing agreements. He explained that the new “independent government” would be comprised of technocrats and would be formed within a five week deadline.

With the latest round of peace talks over, Abbas is now pushing forward with new demands. In a televised address on Tuesday, Abbas said that the Palestinians would never agree to negotiate with Israel, let alone make peace, without first defining the borders of a future Palestinian state.

“Since the creation of Israel, nobody knows what the borders are. We are determined to know our borders and their. Without that there will be no peace,” he said.

“If we want to extend the negotiations, there has to be a release of prisoners…a settlement freeze, and a discussion of maps and borders for three months,” Abbas demanded.

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