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U.S. To Send $10 Million in Humanitarian Aid to Palestinians

09 May 2006

Rice blames deteriorating Palestinian conditions on Hamas

By David Shelby
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The international community is concerned deeply about the reported shortages of medicine and health care equipment in the Palestinian Territories and will work to address the problem, according to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but she places the blame for the Palestinians’ deteriorating situation squarely on the shoulders of the Hamas-led government.

“No one wants to see the Palestinian people suffer.  And indeed, the United States is going to make available $10 million in-kind, of contributions of essential medicines and supplies, because we are concerned about the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian Territories,” she told reporters May 9 following a meeting at the U.N. Security Council.  “We've been very clear that we intend to keep humanitarian aid flowing to the Palestinian people.” (See related article.)

But she insisted that the international community cannot allow Hamas to shift the blame for the current state of affairs away from itself.

“Hamas has a responsibility to prevent the descent … of conditions for the Palestinian Territories into a situation of deprivation,” she told the Associated Press editorial board May 8.  “Now, the way that Hamas does that is it finally comes online in terms of some actually very simple requirements of the international community.  Just recognize the peace process is the only way that you're going to make life better for your people … and then the international community will support a Palestinian government that is trying to provide for its people and is also committed to peace.”

While in New York, Rice is meeting with representatives of the Quartet for Middle East Peace, which includes the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, to discuss humanitarian aid for the Palestinians and Hamas’ continued defiance of the international community’s demands.

Shortly after Hamas swept to victory in January’s Palestinian legislative elections, the Quartet issued a statement calling on the organization to renounce violence, recognize Israel’s right to exist and respect previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Rice said it is not just the international consensus but also the Arab consensus that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be resolved through a negotiated two-state solution.

She said no country wants to deal with a Palestinian government that finds reason to celebrate when there are suicide bombings in Tel Aviv [Israel]. (See related article.)

“Everybody's concerned about the status of Palestinians,” she said.  “And nobody wants to see deprivation and nobody wants to see essential services not delivered.  And so I think there will be a lot of discussion about how to do that.  But I don't think that you're going to see any movement on the view that Hamas is the party that needs to make a change.”

The transcript of Rice’s interview with the Associated Press editorial board is available on the State Department Web site, along with her statement on U.S. medical assistance to the Palestinian people.

For additional information on U.S. policies, see The Middle East: A Vision of the Future.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)