WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has rejected reports that the Obama administration will agree to transfer funds to a Palestinian government that includes Hamas members.
"There is no possibility of funding Hamas," Clinton told the Senate's Appropriations Committee Thursday. "That is absolutely not possible under the language of the supplemental, nor is it possible under our administration's policy."
Clinton on Thursday (Photo: AP)
"What we have said is that if there were to be, which at this moment seems highly unlikely, a unity government that consisted of the Palestinian authority members from Fatah and any members from Hamas, the government itself plus every member of the government would have to commit to the Quartet principles," Clinton added. "Namely, they must renounce violence, they must recognize Israel and they must agree to abide by the former PLO and Palestinian authority agreements."
"That has been our policy, and that is what we have told our partners in Europe and elsewhere, which is why we've been very hesitant and quite unconvinced about any efforts to create a unity government," the secretary of state said.
Clinton was denying recent reports claiming that the Obama administration softened the text of the request for aid to the Palestinians, so that funds could be transferred even in case a national unity government with Hamas is set up in the Palestinian Authority.
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