[Al Arabiya Latest] Exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal said on Friday the Islamist movement ruling the Gaza Strip would not touch any of the $ 400 million in U.S. aid promised to the Palestinians.
| Let's take it back, then. We really do have better things not to do with it, like not borrowing that much more from China. |
"The 400 million dollars offered by (U.S. President Barack) Obama are not for Gaza but for the Palestinian Authority which will distribute part of it in Gaza, but not to Hamas," Meshaal told a news conference in Sudan's capital.
| Actually, that's a neat little play -- kudos to President Obama: getting credit for supporting Hamas in the eyes of the world, while sliding it into the pockets of the P.A., ie. Fatah. Not to mention raising expectations in Gaza that Hamas would then not be able to meet. It's positively Chicagoan! |
"The money will be given to (Palestinian prime minister) Salam Fayyad" in the occupied West Bank, he said.
On Wednesday Obama announced a $400 million aid package for the West Bank and Gaza, saying it demonstrated America's commitment to improving the lives of Palestinians.
After meeting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas at the White House, Obama described the situation in the Gaza Strip, mired in humanitarian crisis and under an Israeli blockade, as "unsustainable," but also said he still believed "significant progress" towards Middle East peace was possible this year.
Meshaal on Friday also urged Arab and Muslim states to give more humanitarian aid for vessels attempting to break the Israeli blockade of the impoverished Gaza Strip, where more than 1.5 million Palestinians live.
Nine Turkish activists hired terrorists were killed when Israeli commandos boarded a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May 31.
Meshaal began a four-day visit to Sudan on Wednesday, during which he has had talks with President Omar al-Beshir. Sudan last year began mediation efforts between Hamas and the rival Fatah faction after Abbas visited Khartoum.
| Bet they were as effective as Egypt's mediation efforts. |
Meshaal on Saturday said Sudan's mediation was "not contradictory" to Egyptian efforts to bring about Palestinian reconciliation. An accord brokered by Cairo several months ago was backed by Fatah but rejected by Hamas. |