WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- While Hamas, the militant group that won the Palestinian elections, goes through the novel experience of forming a government, the country's financial contributors, mainly the United States, the Europen Union and Israel are biding their time waiting for the outcome. At stake are tens of millions of dollars in regular Western aid to the Palestinians. Once Hamas appointed Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader as prime minister designate, payments from the United States were halted and the European Union threatened to follow suit unless Hamas renounces violence, recognizes Israel's right to exist, and agrees to abide by existing agreements.
Meanwhile, Israel says it will henceforth block some $54 million it collects monthly in taxes and customs dues on behalf of the Palestinian Authority until Hamas reverses its adversarial approach to Israel. The Palestinian Authority protested that withholding the money will worsen the government's situation which, in the past, has used the remissions to help cover the wages and salaries of its 140,000 public sector employees, about half being members of the security forces.
Earlier this month, James D. Wolfensohn, the former president of the World Bank who is the special Middle East envoy of the peace brokering international quartet consisting of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, and Russia, warned that the Palestinian Authority needed up to $80 million for the government payroll. "If we do not want to see rising tension leading to violence and chaos -- particularly just before the (March 28) Israeli election -- we will want to develop a convincing strategy addressing the PA's financial and development needs, not only in the short term of the next few weeks but also in a longer time frame," Wolfensohn wrote to the quartet.
The European Union is sidestepping Hamas -- which Brussels, like the U.S. State Department, lists as a terrorist organization -- and looking for ways to keep the cash flowing to other recipients, including sending aid directly to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also leader of the Fatah party that was ousted from office in the Jan. 25 elections.
The European Union wants to avoid charges of bringing hardship on ordinary Palestinians, especially the country's large underclass, by withholding aid. In February, the European Union said it was providing an aid package of $144 million, with hardly any of the money going through the present caretaker government. Some $48 million went directly to utility providers to ensure that public services such as electricity and water are not interrupted, and $64 million for health and education services channeled through the U.N. refugee welfare agency UNRWA.
Still, the EU Commissioner for External Relations stressed that the payment was a one-shot contribution, and the future of European aid remained uncertain. "How we are able to help the Palestinians in the future will depend to a large extent on the decisions taken by their newly elected parliament, whether its members support non violence, recognize Israel, and stand by existing agreements." So far, the militant Islamic organization's moves in that direction have at best been passive ones. There has been little anti-Israel rhetoric since the election, and no suicide bomb attacks, but that hardly constitutes compliance with the demands of the international community.
When EU foreign ministers met in Salzburg, Austria, Friday the Hamas election was high on the agenda.
Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country has the rotating EU presidency, declared after the first day of talks that while the European Union wished to continue providing financial assistance to the Palestinian people, support for terrorist purposes was out of the question. "It is important to get this message across. It is up to the future government what they do with that message." A statement on the meeting issued by the EU presidency said the European Union was concerned that financial aid sent for medical or welfare purposes could be siphoned off and used in ways not intended by the donors, such as terrorist activities.
To counter the dwindling supply of Western aid that had always been a mainstay of Palestinian outside income, a Hamas delegation has been touring Arab countries asking for support. On Sunday it was reported that the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal had assured the movement's overall leader Khaled Meshaal of Riyadh's continued political and financial backing, and Iran has also offered help. But in the past Palestinian officials have said that Western commitments of help tend to be more reliable, with the money arriving regularly and on time.
President Hosni Mubarak, who has been touring European capitals, urged EU governments not to cut off aid to the Palestinians, and at the same time called for a change of approach by both Israel and Hamas. "If this aid is cut off we have to brace ourselves for effects on the whole Palestinian people, and that terrorism will increase," he said in Vienna. "There have to be changes on both sides (Israel and Hamas) to be able to conduct negotiations once the next Palestinian government is formed." Hamas "would have to renounce violence" against Israel, he added.
On Monday, Mubarak discussed the Middle East at his meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican has been urging the international community not to isolate the new Palestinian government.
