Once again, some daylight has emerged between the American and EU positions on aid to the new Palestinian Hamas led government. The EU has temporarily decided to continue aid to Hamasistan.EU Says Hamas Must Change to Win its Support | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 30.01.2006
“We give them three months to assess the situation. We don’t want chaos and we want to go on with the peace process,” said EU foreign executive, Javier Solana at the end of the foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels.
"They have been a terrorist organization. They have to change their methods and they have to accept that violence is incompatible with democracy," Solana told AFP as he arrived for a day of talks in Brussels.
"They have to also recognize Israel, because in the end what we are trying to do is construct a two-state model and to do that, you have to talk to the other," he added.
US Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice expressed the US position, which is less `nuanced' and more hardline. "Supporting a peace process on the one hand... and on the other hand, supporting the activities of a partner in that set of negotiations which does not recognize the existence of the other partner, it just does not work," she said.
"I do think that it is important that Hamas now has to confront the implications of its government if it wishes to govern."
She also pointed out that both the EU and the US have listed Hamas as a terorist organization, and that US law forbids funding terrorist organizations.
For the story behind the story, read Joshuapundit on the Saudi offer to finance the PA....
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