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01/22/2006:

"U.S. Funds Enter Fray In Palestinian Elections"

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The Bush administration is spending foreign aid money to increase the popularity of the Palestinian Authority on the eve of crucial elections in which the governing party faces a serious challenge from the radical Islamic group Hamas.

The approximately $2 million program is being led by a division of the U.S. Agency for International Development. But no U.S. government logos appear with the projects or events being undertaken as part of the campaign, which bears no evidence of U.S. involvement and does not fall within the definitions of traditional development work.

U.S. officials say their low profile is meant to ensure that the Palestinian Authority receives public credit for a collection of small, popular projects and events to be unveiled before Palestinians select their first parliament in a decade. Internal documents outlining the program describe the effort as "a temporary paradigm shift" in the way the aid agency operates. The plan was designed with the help of a former U.S. Army Special Forces officer who worked in postwar Afghanistan on democracy-building projects.

U.S. and Palestinian officials say they fear the election, scheduled for Wednesday, will result in a large Hamas presence in the 132-seat legislature. Hamas, formally known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, is at war with Israel and is classified by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. But its reputation for competence and accountability in providing social services has made it a stiff rival of the secular Fatah movement, which runs the Palestinian Authority and has long been the largest party in the Palestinian territories.
washingtonpost.com


Groups Worried About New US Aid Czar
WASHINGTON -The United States has unveiled a new plan for how it spends foreign aid dollars that links U.S. security to democracy and development overseas.

But development activists fear the new overhaul could be ideologically motivated and criticised the appointment of a new aid director who they say had performed poorly in his previous position.

"In today's world, America's security is linked to the capacity of foreign states to govern justly and effectively," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday as she announced the plan. "Our foreign assistance must help people get results."

The new re-structuring plan unifies U.S. aid agencies, aid accounts and individual programmes under one director. President George W. Bush said he will appoint Randall Tobias, who now heads the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the U.S. global AIDS programme.


Israel on alert as Hamas leads poll
The acting Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, is to hold urgent talks with senior cabinet members and security officials today to discuss Israel's response to the strengthening wave of support for Hamas.
The talks come as it has become clear that the organisation - best known in the West for sponsoring terrorist attacks - is certain to command a substantial share of the vote in this week's Palestinian elections, with profound consequences for the Middle East peace process.

The first voting in the elections began yesterday as thousands of members of the Palestinian security forces cast their ballots ahead of Wednesday's crucial poll. Some 58,000 security personnel have been allowed to vote in advance of the elections to free them on 25 January to protect polling sites in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem amid fears of political violence. Two polls on Friday showed Hamas and the late Yasser Arafat's Fatah neck-and-neck in the last few days of campaigning.

Support for Hamas, which is standing in elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council for the first time, has been buoyed up by its promise to root out corruption and its reputation for discipline and organisation in contrast to Fatah's endless in-fighting that - in Gaza in particular - has left a vacuum of power. Olmert and his officials are certain to discuss the conflicting signals that Hamas has been sending in recent weeks as part of its efforts to win more widespread political support among Palestinians disgruntled with Fatah.

As part of the group's new tactics its Gaza-based leader, Dr Mahmoud al-Zahar, has proposed a 'bullet and the ballot box' approach to the struggle against Israel.

Speaking to The Observer, he said: 'There are three approaches. There is resistance only. There is negotiation only, which has failed. And there is a combination of the two.'