NEWS

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

House Foreign Affairs Committee

U.S. House of Representatives

CONTACT: Sam Stratman, (202) 226-7875, March 20, 2007

                        Lee Cohen (202) 225-1139

For IMMEDIATE Release: March 20, 2007

Ros-Lehtinen Urges No U.S. Recognition of

Palestinian Government Led by Hamas

Failure to Renounce Terror, Abide by Prior Accords Leaves U.S. No Choice

      (WASHINGTON) - U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), commented on the Palestinian unity government sworn in over the weekend that includes power sharing between Fatah and the terrorist entity Islamic Hamas:

The U.S. and other responsible nations must not recognize or legitimize in any way a Palestinian government in which a terror group participates. 

U.S. law is clear on the conditions that the PA must fulfill before the U.S. can engage with it or any of its officials.  It must abandon violence, recognize the State of Israel, and adhere to its obligations under pre-existing agreements.

After having reviewed its power sharing platform, I have grave concerns that the new Palestinian coalition government sworn in this past weekend fails to meet these requirements and represents a further setback in efforts to bring peace and security to Israel and the Palestinian people.

For this reason, I call upon the international community, especially our European allies and Russia which participated in the Quartet for Middle East Peace, to hold firm in their resolve to isolate any Palestinian government antagonistic or indifferent to laying the foundation necessary for peace with Israel.

Today’s report of the wounding of a worker on the Israeli side of the Gaza border by a Hamas sniper, even as the PA’s new Hamas-led coalition lobbies for international recognition and aid, illustrates that the Hamas element in this new government is unwilling to prevent further violence against Israel.

The world must resist enabling forces which threaten stability and peace both regionally and globally and decide once and for all that it is fully committed to appropriately addressing the Middle East conflict.

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