West Takes Firm Stand on Hamas Aid

A U.S.-forged consensus emerged Monday that any government formed by the radical Hamas movement will have to renounce violence and recognize Israel to continue receiving the $1 billion in annual donations Western nations now make to the Palestinian administration.

However, the European Union, United Nations, United States and Russia agreed that aid to the caretaker Palestinian government under President Mahmoud Abbas could continue until a new Hamas-led administration took over.

The gesture from the four participants in Middle East negotiations was seen as a bid to prevent an immediate collapse of the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority after the Islamist Hamas won a decisive legislative victory last week over the incumbent secular Fatah movement.

Hamas, which advocates the destruction of Israel, remains on U.S. and EU lists of terrorist organizations.

Israel had long criticized leadership under Fatah, particularly when it was run by the late Yasser Arafat. But unlike Hamas, Fatah recognized Israel and was committed to a settlement resulting in two states living side by side.

Middle East analysts remained at a loss as to what would happen if Hamas refused to change its basic charter.

“There is a fundamental choice that Western governments need to make: Is Hamas reformable, and can you use this election to both deepen Palestinian democracy and moderate Hamas’ views? Or are we probably at the beginning of the collapse of the Palestinian Authority?” said Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

Holding back funds, Alterman added, could drive a Hamas-led government toward Iran or Syria.

In London, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said it was “inevitable” that donations to the Palestinian Authority would be judged against the future government’s “continued commitment to the principles of nonviolence, recognition of Israel and the acceptance of previous agreements and obligations including the ‘road map,’ ” a U.S.-backed peace plan.

The official agreement that emerged from London said the so-called quartet of parties involved in Middle East negotiations was willing to continue supporting Palestinians’ quest for statehood, freedom and economic development. It said a Hamas-led administration would be welcomed as a full partner if it accepted the premises of the peace process, including the recognition of Israel.

In Washington, President Bush had already endorsed that stance. He said that Hamas’ electoral platform -- rooting out corruption and improving services -- was “positive.”

“But what isn’t positive is that they’ve got parts of their platform that will make it impossible for them to be a peaceful partner,” Bush said Monday.

U.S. and European leaders made it plain that they were hoping that the pressure of responsibility would force Hamas to moderate its stances.

“The conditions are clear,” said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. “Once these conditions are fulfilled, the European Union will stand ready to continue to support Palestinian economic development and democratic state-building, but it has to be complied with the moment they will be in government.”

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hinted that Hamas politicians might be forced to compromise as those of Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization did.

“There are obligations and responsibilities that come with governing, and it is not the first time that elected representatives have had to deal with those obligations,” Rice said.

“Those who have been elected by the Palestinian people have an obligation ... to speak to the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a better life,” she added.

Rice had traveled to Europe with the aim of building agreement with allies on two areas of international concern -- Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the Palestinians -- as well as to attend an international donors conference on Afghanistan.

She said the core of the U.S. position was that “a Palestinian government must be committed to peace with Israel.... Quite clearly, to be committed to peace with Israel you have to recognize Israel’s right to exist, and you have to renounce violence and terrorism.”

As Rice spoke in London, a senior Hamas official in Gaza City made the group’s most direct appeal yet for donors to refrain from cutting aid, saying it would serve no purpose.

Ismail Haniya, who ran at the top of the Hamas slate, offered to meet with the quartet for an open dialogue. He said all outside money would be spent directly on helping the Palestinian people and keeping the government running, and offered oversight power to donors. He suggested that withholding aid would only heighten tensions.

Aid to the Palestinian Authority last year amounted to nearly $1 billion, about $400 million of that from the U.S. Even so, the Abbas administration is in effect bankrupt.

Abbas and others, including former President Carter, have warned that a precipitous cutoff of aid could lead to widespread unrest, particularly if the salaries of nearly 150,000 civil servants and members of the security forces go unpaid.

Other Hamas leaders have hinted that if rebuffed by the West, they will seek funding from the Arab world, including from regimes unfriendly to the U.S. Hamas already funnels vast amounts of donated money from the Muslim world into its charities and social services.

Hamas has so far suggested it will not change its founding principles or negotiate directly with Israel. But even hard-line Hamas leaders like Mahmoud Zahar have indicated that third-party talks with the Jewish state would be acceptable, and Haniya has said the group is open to evaluating its positions.

The group has shown some signs of moderating its views, although it refuses to trumpet them. It halted its campaign of suicide bombings in Israel more than a year ago, and its election platform omitted its habitual call for Israel’s destruction.

Haniya urged donors to refrain from making demands that “increase the suffering of our people who are looking for freedom.”

Israel has been seeking support for isolating Hamas diplomatically and financially. The government of acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is threatening to suspend customs revenue transfers to the Palestinian Authority, which total $40 million to $50 million a month. The next payment is due Wednesday.

“I have no intention of approving the transfer of money which will be used for terrorism,” Olmert said after visiting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who traveled to the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday for a meeting with Abbas.

But Olmert also indicated Israel was still assessing the situation. “At this point, we are following developments. We are of course very sensitive to the responsibilities and efforts of Abu Mazen,” he said, using the name by which Abbas is commonly known.

Annan said the quartet had agreed that last week’s elections were free, fair and safe. Hamas won 74 of the 132 parliamentary seats, and Abbas has said he will ask the group to form the next government.

Daniszewski reported from London and King from Jerusalem. Times staff writers James Gerstenzang in Washington and Janet Stobart in London contributed to this report.