Clinton says no U.S. funds will go to Hamas

[oberliner]

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took a hard line against the Islamist Hamas group on Monday and said $900 million in U.S. aid for the Palestinians was part of a broader bid for Arab-Israeli peace.

Underlining the U.S. administration's position, Clinton said no money would go to Hamas which must recognize Israel, renounce violence and sign on to past Israeli and Palestinian agreements if it wanted to come out of isolation.

In her first foray into Arab-Israeli peacemaking, Clinton said President Barack Obama's administration was committed to pursuing an Arab-Israeli peace and that the aid package, about a third of it for Gaza, was aimed at accelerating those efforts.

"Our response to today's crisis in Gaza cannot be separated from our broader efforts to achieve a comprehensive peace," Clinton told an international donors' conference held for Gaza in the Egyptian coastal resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090302/pl_nm/us_palestinians_gaza_clinton;_ylt=AqOgXq1ulmzDInByF9.DRmms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJuZW5lY2VtBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMDkwMzAyL3VzX3BhbGVzdGluaWFuc19nYXphX2NsaW50b24EcG9zAzEzBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2NsaW50b25zYXlzbg--

[Donnachaidh]

1. so we're resorting to blackmail for aid?

Nice. :sarcasm:

[aquart]

3. What did you think foreign aid was?

That's serious naivete.

[Donnachaidh]

4. And all the aid we give Israel is blackmail?

Really? :sarcasm:

Too bad we are so quick to aid a country that claims to have been born from the Holocaust, and is now practicing their own form of genocide with US money.

[cali]

5. sigh. I find your post really pathetic.

first of all, there's little doubt that the holocaust was a substantial reason for Israel's foundation. Secondly, horrific as some of Israel's actions are, it isn't genocide. Populations that have suffered genocide don't increase. And that's the case with the Palestinians. Why not deal with reality instead of your own particular fantasy?

[azurnoir]

2. So despite Palestinian unification efforts

the US is still trying to pit Fatah and Hamas against each other, did she say which Israeli bank would get to hold the money?

[thereismore]

6. I agree, but I would couple that with reduction of aid to Israel, for a good measure. nt