Haaretz
Shvat 18, 5766
WASHINGTON - Mistakes in U.S.
Middle East policy have made America less safe and aided the militant
group Hamas's victory in Palestinian elections, Democratic and Republican
lawmakers told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on
Wednesday.
Hamas's win last month in the Palestinian territories
and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood's rise in Egypt have fueled criticisms
over U.S. President George W. Bush's strategy of pushing for democracy in
the Middle East.
"This administration seems to have a tin ear when
it comes to the Middle East and that tin ear is making us less safe," Sen.
Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, told Rice at a Senate Foreign Relations
Committee hearing.
The California Democrat suggested U.S. policies
in the Middle East, as well as in Latin American nations Bolivia and
Venezuela whose governments are hostile to Washington, were boosting the
election chances of anti-American candidates.
Rice said it took
time for democracy to take hold.
"Yes there are going to be some
outcomes that are not perfect from the American point of view, but I don't
think that our policy can be that you can only have elections if you plan
to elect candidates that are friendly to America," she said.
"If
the option is not to hold elections and not to give people their say then
that is an untenable position for the United States," Rice
added.
Rice said it was wrong to imply the Middle East had been
stable before the Bush administration launched its democracy push, arguing
that 60 years of U.S. foreign policy caused a "freedom deficit" that was
difficult to fix in a couple of years.
"It is too much to expect
... those political parties to develop overnight," she said.
"I
don't see, Madame Secretary, how things are getting better. I think things
are getting worse. I think they're getting worse in Iraq. I think they're
getting worse in Iran," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican who often
veers from the party line. Hagel also was pessimistic about implications
of the militant group Hamas' victory in Palestinian elections last
month.
On Iraq, the panel's top Democrat, Sen. Joseph Biden,
countered Rice's optimism about political unity among Iraq's squabbling
ethnic groups.
"I'm not hopeful," Biden told Rice. "The policy
seems not to be succeeding."
Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee from
Rhode Island took aim at Rice for not doing enough to support Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah Party was defeated by Hamas in the
Jan. 25 Palestinian election.
"The whole year, 2005, nothing was
done, opportunities missed and now we have a very, very disastrous
situation of a terrorist organization winning an election," said
Chafee.
"Why didn't we take advantage of these opportunities (to
stop Hamas)?" asked Chafee.
Rice said she had worked as hard as she
could on the Middle East peace process. Hamas's victory was not due to any
failure of U.S. foreign policy but rather a backlash against Fatah which
many Palestinians viewed as corrupt, she said.
"There are times
when elections turn out in ways we wish they did not. Clearly the election
of Hamas is a difficult moment in the prospects for peace between the
Palestinians and the Israelis," Rice told the hearing.
Hamas's
victory came as a surprise to the United States and Chafee said Washington
should be prepared for a rise in popularity of the Islamist Muslim
Brotherhood in Egypt.
In elections last year, the Muslim
Brotherhood emerged as the biggest opposition group. This week, the
Egyptian government postponed local elections for two years in a move
Islamists said was aimed at maintaining the ruling party's grip on
power.
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota jumped to Rice's
defense over her department's democracy agenda.
"Democracy is a
messy thing," said Coleman. "These are messy times now," he
said.
U.S. House urges halt of direct aid to PA
The U.S.
House of Representatives passed a resolution on Wednesday urging that
direct U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority be stopped as long as the
militant group Hamas, which is expected to form a new Palestinian
government, calls for Israel's destruction.
The nonbinding
resolution expressing the sense of Congress was approved 418-1. The Senate
passed the measure earlier this month.
The Bush administration is
evaluating its aid program to the Palestinians following Hamas' stunning
victory in Palestinian elections over the Fatah movement.
"Until
Hamas changes course, dismantles its terrorist organization, and agrees to
work towards a peaceful settlement with Israel, no taxpayer money should
be provided to support the Palestinian government," said House Majority
Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican.
House International
Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, an Illinois Republican, said the
resolution "sends a strong message" to the Palestinians, without trying to
force the Bush administration into a policy before the new Palestinian
government is formed.
A number of House members are pushing binding
legislation to halt U.S. aid and withhold U.S. funds to the United Nations
equal to the amount the world body provides the Palestinians.
For
2006, the United States has budgeted $150 million in assistance to the
Palestinians, and a further $84 million to the UN fund.