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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (15106)	4/17/2002 2:32:52 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 27670

U.S. Ties Future Palestinian Aid to Terror Fight Tue Apr 16,10:55 PM ET By Adam Entous WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration said on Tuesday it would allow the Palestine Liberation Organization (news - web sites) to keep an office in Washington for another six months but would make future U.S. aid to the Palestinians contingent on whether Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) cracks down on terrorism. The announcement came as Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) prepared to wrap up his Middle East peace mission. So far, he has been unable to clinch agreements on a cease-fire or an Israeli troop pullout from battle-scarred Palestinian cities. Bush, in a memorandum to Powell, said it was "important to the national security interests of the United States" to waive the provisions of a 1987 law which imposed restrictions on PLO activities. The six-monthly waivers have been routine since 1994, after the PLO and Israel recognized each other. But Bush was under pressure from pro-Israeli groups in the United States to crack down on the PLO in retaliation for a wave of suicide bombings in the Jewish state. Without the waiver, the PLO office in Washington would have to close and PLO officials would have trouble visiting and traveling in the United States. The waiver also authorized the United States to provide humanitarian and trade assistance to the Palestinian people for another six months. But unlike previous waivers, officials said Bush would make future U.S. aid contingent on the PLO complying with U.S. demand for an end to suicide attacks against Israel. "We will be watching Palestinian compliance very closely," an official said. Powell said over the weekend that Bush had approved adding $30 million -- to an annual $80 million U.S. contribution -- to an emergency program run by the United Nations (news - web sites) Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Powell also said the U.S. Agency for International Development was giving $62 million for health-care, water system repairs and emergency food aid. Last week the PLO said it had been evicted from its Washington office for what it said were political reasons. The real estate management company said that the decision was purely commercial. PLO representative Hassan Abdel Rahman said the company, Cushman & Wakefield, had given the PLO three weeks' notice to leave as it was two months in arrears on the rent of $8,000 a month. Abdel Rahman said he was working out of his home until new premises were found. story.news.yahoo.com