The United States and Israel were not plotting to destabilize a
Hamas-led Palestinian government, the White House said on Tuesday,
but urged the militant group to respect Israeli-Palestinian
accords.
The New York Times reported that US and Israeli
officials were discussing ways to isolate Hamas, which won an
overwhelming victory in the Palestinian election, if it failed to
recognize Israel's right to exist and renounce violence.
"There's no plot," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
"The issue that this goes to is the choice that Hamas has before
it. If it wants to realize better relations with the international
community, then Hamas must renounce violence, recognize Israel and
disarm."
At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack denied
Washington was developing a strategy that differed from its public
policy.
"The conversations that we are having with the Israeli
government are the same conversations we are having with other
members of the international community," he said.
McClellan told reporters that Palestinian officials had for
years recognized Israel's right to exist and worked in negotiations
toward peace.
"If Palestinians were to change that decade-old policy, then
their relations with the international community will change as
well," he said.
Hamas defeated Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah
movement in the January 25 election on a pledge to end corruption
and continue armed struggle for statehood. It is pledged officially
to the destruction of Israel which it says is built on occupied
Arab land.
"The United States, which claims herself to be the mother of
democracy, must respect the election results and the will of the
Palestinian people," Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said.
New elections
The Times report said the goal of the campaign would be
to ensure that newly elected Hamas officials failed and new
elections were called.
The allies would seek to starve the Palestinian Authority of
money and international connections, making life so difficult for
Palestinians that they would vote to return a reformed Fatah
movement to office, it said.
The Jerusalem-datelined story cited unidentified Israeli
officials and US diplomats.
Israeli officials also denied they were drafting a plan to force
new elections.
"The strategy is to present the incoming leadership of the
Palestinian Authority a clear choice: either they transform
themselves into a legitimate political interlocutor ... or they
face international isolation," said foreign ministry spokesman Mark
Regev.
The New York Times quoted officials as saying Hamas
plans to build up its militias and increase violence and, unless it
renounces violence, accepts Israel and accepts previous
Palestinian-Israeli agreements, must be starved of power.
The strategy carries many risks, the officials conceded, saying
Hamas would try to secure support from the larger Islamic world,
including allies Syria and Iran.
Israel, which does not expect Hamas to meet its conditions, will
cut off payments of US$50 million to US$55 million a month in taxes
and customs duties and put that money in escrow.
In addition, some of the aid the Palestinians receive from the
United States and European Union will be stopped or reduced, the
officials told The Times. Further travel restrictions
might also be imposed, including cutting Gaza off completely from
the West Bank, the newspaper reported.
(Chinadaily.com via agencies February 15, 2006)
