WORLD / Middle East
US to resume direct aid to Palestinian government
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-06-19 01:49
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday that the United
States will resume direct aid to the new Palestinian emergency government
installed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The United States will "resume full assistance to the Palestinian
government and normal government to government contacts," Rice said at a
press conference held at the State Department.
The United States will lift the aid embargo imposed on the Palestinian
government previously led by the Hamas, Rice said.
"This will enable the American people and American financial institutions
to resume normal economic and commercial ties with the Palestinian
government," Rice said.
The U.S. decision came after Abbas signed a decree early Sunday to
install a new emergency cabinet. The mini cabinet, which is headed by
U.S.-educated economist Salam Fayyad and only consists of 10 ministers,
was sworn in on Sunday.
The decree also outlawed the armed wing of the paramilitary security
branch of the Hamas movement, saying it had carried out a "military coup
against the Palestinian legitimacy and its government."
The United States has regarded Hamas as a terrorist group and has cut off
all contacts and aid to the Hamas-dominated Palestinian government prior
to the emergency cabinet.
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