Boycott of Palestinian government crumbles

Source: Compiled by Daily Star, 21-3-2007
A senior US diplomat met Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad on Tuesday, denting "Israel`s" drive to keep an international boycott of the new Palestinian unity government in place. Meanwhile, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa urged "Israel" on Tuesday to be more proactive in restarting the stalled Mideast peace talks following the creation of the Palestinian government.
Fayyad`s meeting in the occupied West Bank with US Consul-General Jacob Walles was the first contact in a year between a US official and a minister in the coalition cabinet formed on Saturday by Hamas and Fatah.
"This meeting was part of my contacts with the international community," Fayyad told The Associated Press.
Fayyad, a former World Bank official, has been leading Palestinian efforts to end international sanctions, imposed a year ago when Hamas won an election and set up a government. Fayyad said his aim in meeting the US diplomat was to seek ways "to lift the unjust siege."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the meeting is in accordance with US policy.
"We weren`t going to cut off contacts with those individuals with whom we had previously had contact," he said. "I know the `Israeli` government has a different view in this regard."
Olmert`s office pointedly refused to comment on the Fayyad-Walles meeting. As consul in Jerusalem (al-Quds), Walles serves as the de facto US ambassador to the Palestinian territories.
The meeting came as Austria invited another cabinet independent, Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr, to visit, and France and the United Nations said they would make contacts with non-Hamas members of the government. Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht may also hold talks with Abu Amr.
"There are no EU decisions that would ban such visits, nor any decision laying out the EU`s policy on such contacts," explained the European Commission`s spokeswoman for external affairs, Emma Udwin.
Alvaro de Soto, the UN special envoy to the Middle East, will also meet Fayyad and Abu Amr Wednesday, officials said.
Trying to stop any erosion of the boycott, "Israel" cancelled a planned meeting with Norway`s deputy foreign minister after he held talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyya, "Israeli" officials said.
On Tuesday, Johansen said "Israeli" officials canceled planned meetings with him, that he regretted the "Israeli" decision and hoped it would be temporary.
He added that he had told the Palestinian government it must follow through on its commitments to peace.
"There is still a long way to go, so we have to continue to encourage them to make progress on the ground, improve security and renounce violence," Johansen said.
"Israeli" Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the "Israeli" Cabinet decided after Hamas` January 2006 election victory to bar visitors who meet Hamas members from seeing "Israeli" officials.