Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumHamas deal last straw for Congress on US aid to Palestinians
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the author of the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act, called for an immediate suspension of US aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The 2006 law, passed after Hamas won that year's legislative elections, prohibits support for a "Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority."
"The Administration must halt aid to the Palestinian Authority and condition any future assistance as leverage to force Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] to abandon this reconciliation with Hamas and to implement real reforms within the PA," Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs panel on the Middle East, said in a statement. "U.S. law is clear on the prohibition of U.S. assistance to a unity Palestinian government that includes Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, and President [Barack] Obama must not allow one cent of American taxpayer money to help fund this terrorist group."
Her Democratic counterpart on the subcommittee, Ted Deutch of Florida, issued a similar warning.
"President Abbas now stands at a pivotal crossroad does he want peace with Israel or reconciliation with Hamas?" Deutch said. "Be certain that the Palestinian Authority will face significant consequences if a unity government is formed that includes terrorist members of Hamas."
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/04/suspend-aid-reconciliation-hamas-fatah-congress.html#ixzz2zq3nUN44
Violet_Crumble
(35,961 posts)He hasn't noticed that Israel doesn't want peace with the Palestinians and has done everything it can to scuttle US led peace talks every step of the way? He makes it sound like if there's no reconciliation with Hamas, then peace is going to happen. He's wrong...
bemildred
(90,061 posts)Consistency is not something they expend any energy on. What matters is intensity and volume.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)harassed them, destroyed their property and livelihood, shot at them, imprisoned them and killed them wholesale our esteemed congress would see fit to giving hem 3-4 billion in aid per year.