US cuts off contacts with Hamas-led government

By Paul Eckert

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States ordered its
diplomats and contractors on Wednesday to cut off contacts with
Palestinian ministries after a Hamas-led government was sworn
in, the State Department said.

At the same time, U.S. President George W. Bush expressed
support for the Palestinian people but repeated his position no
U.S. funds should go to the Hamas leadership they elected.

“I think that aid should go to suffering Palestinians, but
nor should it go to a government, however, which has expressed
its desire to destroy its neighbor,” Bush said during a
question-and-answer session after he delivered a speech on
Iraq.

Hamas is formally committed to the destruction of Israel
and is classed by the U.S. government as a terrorist
organization. It won a landslide victory in Palestinian
parliamentary elections in January.

“We support the election process, we support democracy, but
that doesn’t mean we have to support governments that get
elected as a result of democracy,” Bush said.

“I weep about the suffering of the Palestinians,” Bush
said, but added the Hamas-led government had to make a choice.

The United States hopes to isolate Hamas and pressure it to
recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by peace accords.
So far, the Islamic militant group has refused, although its
leaders have said they would continue to observe a ceasefire
with Israel.

A directive, distributed to U.S. diplomats and other
officials in the region by e-mail, instructed them with
immediate effect not to have contacts with Hamas-appointed
government ministers or those who work for them, whether they
are members of the group or not, officials said.

“We will not have contact with members of Hamas, no matter
what title they may have,” said State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack.

He said the directive was intended to ensure that U.S.
diplomats and officials around the world knew how to deal with
Palestinian officials with whom they might come into contact.

McCormack said the United States would also examine its
contacts with the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian
diplomats around the world.

The no-contact policy was more sweeping than many had
expected because it applies not just to Hamas members but to
independents and technocrats in the new government.

MANY PROGRAMS AFFECTED

The cutoff could affect a wide range of U.S. programs,
including security coordination with the Interior Ministry,
officials said.

Contacts will still be permitted with President Mahmoud
Abbas, his office and non-Hamas members of the Palestinian
parliament, officials said.

The policy took effect when Abbas swore in a Hamas
government at a ceremony in Gaza. Hamas’s 24-member Cabinet is
dominated by Hamas loyalists, but includes a few independents.

A U.S. official said independents and technocrats were
included in the ban because they were invited to join the
government by a Hamas prime minister and took office after a
vote of confidence by a Hamas-led parliament.

Officials said the no-contact policy applied to all parts
of the U.S. government, as well as to organizations that
receive U.S. funding for projects and services in the
Palestinian territories.

U.S. law bars the government from providing direct
assistance to any group on the State Department’s list of
terrorist organizations.

Israel has frozen tax revenue transfers to the Palestinian
Authority and has banned contacts with Hamas officials but has
yet to spell out its policy on lower-level contacts with
technocrats. An Israeli official said the issue would be
discussed during a Cabinet meeting on Sunday.

(Additional reporting by Adam Entous in Jerusalem and
JoAnne Allen in Washington)