MaxShimba
JF-Expert Member
- Apr 11, 2008
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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.
"Only by acting now can we turn this crisis into an opportunity that moves us closer to our shared goals," she said.
Later on Monday, Clinton will go to Israel and the West Bank where the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East for the Obama administration, George Mitchell, has been speaking to both sides to assess options for restarting peace talks.