Fund peace, not terror
AS PALESTINIANS, Israelis, and the rest of the world begin to cope with the consequences of the Islamist movement Hamas winning a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council, money has become the first bone of contention. Hamas leaders are asking international donors not to disrupt a flow of funds to Palestinians that exceeded $900 million in the past year. Ismail Haniyeh, who occupied the top spot on the Hamas electoral list, said yesterday: ''We are asking you to respect these results" of last week's election ''and respect the will of the Palestinians."
This appeal touches upon a contradiction. The donors, and President Bush in particular, ardently backed the elections that enabled Hamas to become a governing party. The Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, had postponed the vote last July and toyed with postponing last week's balloting. But the Americans and the Europeans insisted that Abbas allow Palestinians to vote last week.
So Hamas has a certain logic on its side when it says to the donors: Now that we have won the democratic elections you supported, how can you punish the Palestinian people for choosing their leaders as you do in the West?
This question deliberately ignores another contradiction the donors confront. They contribute money to the Palestinians to promote peace -- to counter the forces that engage in terrorism, and that reject negotiations, the two-state solution majorities of both peoples desire, and Israel's right to exist.
In its essence, the rationale for international donations to the Palestinian Authority has been to combat everything Hamas stands for.
Tacitly recognizing this underlying dilemma, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice deftly turned the need to make a fateful decision back on Hamas. She told a London-based Arabic newspaper Sunday that Hamas ''is going to have to make some difficult choices." Rice did not demand that the Islamist movement go through a checklist, renouncing all its previous principles, but she rightly insisted that Hamas ''be committed to the obligations" that the Palestinian Authority has accepted ''for a very long time concerning the peace process."
Rice was leaving the door open for diplomatic engagement and resumed funding if Hamas accepts the premise of a negotiated peace with Israel.
This is
a firm but fair position. Hamas cannot receive foreign donations
if it persists in suicide bombings and its call for a one-state
solution -- a Palestinian state from the Mediterranean to the
Jordan River. And Rice also drew a justified distinction between
humanitarian needs that international donors may still want
to meet and funds for the Palestinian Authority, which may be
cut off if Hamas decides not to change its ways. Non-governmental
relief organizations and UN agencies should be funded even if
the donors refuse to pay the salaries of officials who approve
and command suicide bombings of Israeli civilians. 
