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Saturday, January 28, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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Israel, West likely to cut funds
Israel and Western nations are likely to immediately cut off funds to the Palestinian Authority when Hamas assumes power, top officials said.
“We will face practical problems of how you deal with people that call for the destruction of Israel,” Yossi Bachar, director of Israel’s Finance Ministry, told Ha’aretz on Friday. “If they want to continue to work with us, they will have to find a solution, otherwise I can’t see how they would get the money.” Israel returns to the Palestinian Authority tax money, social security payments and some customs duties garnered from Palestinians.
James Wolfensohn, envoy to the region for the diplomatic “Quartet” managing the peace process, predicted a cutoff from Western nations. Hamas is set to take power by next week.
APN backs Shikaki
Americans for Peace Now led an initiative asking Brandeis University to maintain its relationship with a Palestinian academic accused of terrorist ties.
The letter sent Friday to the Boston-area, Jewish-sponsored university comes after the Zionist Organization of America asked Brandeis to cut off Khalil Shikaki, an academic whose brother Fatih founded the terrorist group Islamic Jihad. The ZOA launched its campaign following revelations that Khalil Shikaki spoke occasionally in 1995 with Sameeh Hammoudeh, a Florida man associated with Islamic Jihad. The revelations came after a jury acquitted Hammoudeh of funding the group.
Brandeis said it was standing by Shikaki, an academic whose polling has uncovered strains of Palestinian moderation. APN and a slate of over 30 academics, political figures and Brandeis alumni praised the university for not cutting off Shikaki. “Unfortunately, there are extremist elements in the American Jewish community that are relentless in their efforts to try to undermine Palestinian moderates and have no shame in using guilt by association to denigrate Dr. Shikaki,” the letter said.
AIPAC: Hamas win a ‘major setback’
Hamas’ victory in Palestinian elections is a “major setback for peace and democracy in the Middle East,” AIPAC said.
The pro-Israel lobby said Thursday that the United States must not recognize Hamas as a legitimate political party until it renounces violence, dismantles terrorist infrastructure, recognizes Israel’s right to exist and agrees to negotiate with the Jewish state. “A government dominated by a terrorist organization undermines efforts to establish a democratic, non-violent society and jeopardizes efforts to achieve a lasting peace between the Palestinians and Israel,” AIPAC President Bernice Manocherian and Executive Director Howard Kohr said in a statement.
Arab-Americans concerned at Hamas victory
A number of Arab-American groups expressed concern at Hamas’ electoral win.
“This election doesn’t make me happy. It doesn’t make me happy at all,” James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, told the Journal News, a newspaper in Westchester, N.Y. Hamas, a terrorist group that advocates Israel’s destruction, swept Wednesday’s elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council.
The American Task Force on Palestine warned Hamas that “the only way for Palestinians to achieve statehood on Palestinian lands occupied since 1967 is through the exercise of non-violence and a process of political negotiation.” The Free Muslim Coalition, which backs many Bush administration Middle East policies, said it was “disappointed” by the results. However, the groups called on the world to respect the election results.
The institute and the task force blamed the results in part on the conditions of Israel’s occupation.
http://www.jta.org/
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