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A masked supporter of Hamas stands in front of a Palestinian flag as he takes part in a rally celebrating the group's strong showing in municipal elections. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners December 18, 2005 |
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European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Sunday warned that the EU could halt tens of millions of dollars of aid to the Palestinian Authority if the armed group Hamas wins next month's Palestinian elections and fails to renounce violence.
"All the political parties have the right to be part of the elections, but there is a certain code of conduct that has to be accepted by everybody," Solana told reporters during a visit to Tel Aviv. "It's very difficult that parties who do not condemn violence...can be partners for the future."
The Palestinian Authority also risks losing U.S. financial aid and other support if it allows the terrorist group Hamas to participate in parliamentary elections next month, the House of Representatives says.
In a resolution passed Friday on a 397-17 vote, the House also urged Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to declare before the vote that he intends to dismantle terrorist organizations.
It said any Hamas participation in the government of the Palestinian Authority "will potentially undermine the ability of the United States to have a constructive relationship with or provide further assistance to the Palestinian Authority."
Rep. Tom Lantos, the top Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, said Hamas is projected to hold more than a quarter of the 132 seats on the Palestinian council. The State Department lists Hamas as a terror organization.
Hamas' prospects to win more seats may have improved after young activists in the ruling Fatah party broke away Wednesday to form their own faction, a blow to Abbas going into the Jan. 25 vote.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday a fundamental contradiction is involved when a terrorist group wants to keep open an option to use violence to kill innocent civilians at the same time it wants to participate in the political process.
"That's a fundamental contradiction that the Palestinian people need to resolve," he said.
He said U.S. policy on Hamas was unchanged. "It's a terrorist organization; we don't deal with it."
Lantos said, "When terrorist militias participate in elections, voters are intimidated. The concepts of the will of the majority and the rights of the minority are rendered meaningless."
He said Hamas should be disqualified on two grounds -- as a terrorist group and as a group that denies Israel's right to exist.
"There is a third reason as well," he said. "Hamas is a fundamentalist, jihadist organization that has nothing but contempt for democracy, though it is more than happy to exploit democracy for its own nefarious ends".
Rep. Ileanna Ros-Lehtinen, chairman of the House International Relations subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, said the resolution takes a united stand "against the attempts of the murderous Islamic extremist organizations to hijack the elections."
She said Hamas participating in the voting "will destroy any hope for peace and security for Israel."
President George W. Bush has said Hamas "terrorists are preparing a future of oppression and misery."
The House resolution, which has more than 150 sponsors, says the participation of Hamas in the Palestinian Authority government "will inevitably raise serious questions for the United States about the commitment of the Palestinian Authority and its leadership to making peace with Israel."
Ros-Lehtinen said a mistake already was made this summer when Lebanon allowed Hezbollah, another terrorist Islamic group, to participate in elections despite its refusal to disarm and dismantle its infrastructure in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution.
The United States continues to deal with the Lebanese government even though Hezbollah has a seat in its Cabinet.
The full text of the House resolution follows:
Whereas the foundation for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process was Palestinian recognition of Israel's right to exist and a solemn obligation to end terrorism and violence;
Whereas the removal of all Israeli presence in Gaza signifies an end to
Israeli responsibility there and a shift in security responsibility of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority;
Whereas Israel's evacuation of Gaza affords the Palestinian Authority, now the responsible governing authority in Gaza, the opportunity to demonstrate its ability to govern, to establish the rule of law, to end corruption, and thereby to demonstrate that it is a partner for peace;
Whereas Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly called for the establishment of `One Authority, One Law, and One Gun';
Whereas since the withdrawal of Israeli military forces, the Palestinian Authority has taken few steps to establish rule of law in Gaza;
Whereas Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, and other terrorist organizations have vowed to continue terrorism against Israeli civilians, seek the destruction of the State of Israel, and employ violence and terror in fulfillment of that aim;
Whereas the inclusion of Hamas, or any other terrorist group on the State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations, into the Palestinian structure could be construed as an implicit endorsement of their anti-American and anti-Israeli terrorist ideology;
Whereas the first provision of the Road Map to Middle East Peace calls for the Palestinians to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure;
Whereas these terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, operate virtually without interference from the Palestinian Authority;
Whereas Hamas has announced its intention to run in Palestinian legislative elections scheduled for January 2006;
Whereas Abbas has indicated his willingness to see Hamas participate in the elections without first calling for it to disband its militia or for it to renounce its goal of destroying the State of Israel;
Whereas the United States has clearly stated that armed militias attached to political parties are incompatible with democratic societies;
Whereas President Bush has stated that Hamas `seeks to end dissent in every form, to control every aspect of life * * * the terrorists are preparing a future of oppression and misery';
Whereas the forces of freedom must continue to keep an untiring vigil against the enemies of rising democracies; and
Whereas the United States has a longstanding policy of not dealing or negotiating with terrorists: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) reaffirms its commitment to the safety and security of the democratic State of Israel;
(2) asserts that terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, should not be permitted to participate in Palestinian elections until such organizations recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, cease incitement, condemn terrorism, and permanently disarm and dismantle their terrorist infrastructure;
(3) calls on the Palestinian Authority President Abbas before the election to declare openly his intention to take action to dismantle the terrorist organizations;
(4) asserts that the inclusion of Hamas, or any other terrorist group on the Department of State's list of foreign terrorist organizations, in the Palestinian Authority's government will inevitably raise serious questions for the United States about the commitment of the Palestinian Authority and its leadership to making peace with Israel and will potentially undermine the ability of the United States to have a constructive relationship with, or provide further assistance to, the Palestinian Authority; and
(5) states its strong belief that, as underlined in every recent Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, progress in the peace process requires sustained Palestinian effort to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, and that delay in confronting that principal obligation only emboldens the opponents of peace and threatens its realization.
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