U.S. reserves judgment on Palestinian government
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - The United States will reserve judgment on a new Palestinian government until its political platform is known but will continue to deal closely with President Mahmoud Abbas, the State Department said on Thursday. "We will wait until the government is actually in place and have an understanding of what their platform will be before making any final judgment," said State Department Sean McCormack when asked whether he had any comment on the new government. Abbas, a close ally of the United States whose Fatah party lost in elections in January last year, accepted on Thursday a ministerial list proposed by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Islamist Hamas, paving the way for a unity government. The United States has said it will only recognize the new government and ease an aid embargo if it recognizes Israel, renounces violence and accepts past peace deals, three conditions demanded by the Quartet of Middle East mediators. The European Union, Russia and the United Nations, which belong to the quartet along with the United States, appear more open to dealing with the new government. Diplomats in Brussels said on Thursday they were studying the option of funneling funds to the Palestinian government through the new finance minister, Salam Fayyad, a pro-western reformer who also met U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit to the Palestinian territories last month. Asked whether the United States would deal with Fayyad and if Washington was also looking at funneling money via him, McCormack said: "Any questions about who we will or will not deal with, we are just going to wait." But he said the United States would continue to work closely with Abbas and his office to support efforts to build strong Palestinian institutions, including the security forces that fell under his command. A Bush administration request for $86 million to help Abbas train and equip his security forces has been blocked in the U.S. Congress because of Abbas's deal with Hamas to form a unity government. Hamas is regarded as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States and U.S. law bars giving taxpayer funds to such groups. McCormack said the Bush administration was still speaking to Congress about the $86 million and trying to get the money approved.
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