U.S. DIPLOMAT MEETS WITH MEMBER OF HAMAS GOVT.

U.S. diplomat meets Palestinian official. (AP)
JERUSALEM - The United States made its first contact with the new Hamas- Fatah coalition Tuesday, ending a yearlong diplomatic boycott of the Palestinian government.

The meeting between a U.S. diplomat and the Palestinian finance minister signaled a break in policy between Israel and its closest ally, and could mark a significant step toward ending a painful aid cutoff to the Palestinian government.

Jacob Walles, the U.S. consul in Jerusalem, set the precedent with a six-mile drive to the West Bank city of Ramallah, where he met Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, an internationally respected economist and political independent. It was the first official U.S. meeting with a Palestinian Cabinet minister in a year.

“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. The U.S., European Union and Israel label Hamas a terror group and ban contact with it.

Hamas still holds the most seats in the Palestinian Cabinet, including the post of prime minister. But the addition of prominent figures like Fayyad to the team has brought into question the concept of boycotting the whole Cabinet, as Israel is doing.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the meeting is in accordance with U.S. 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.”

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The first meeting between an official American representative and a minister in the Palestinian unity government: American Consul Jacob Walles met Tuesday with Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad. This constitutes a further erosion of the policy Israel is trying to preserve against the Palestinian unity government. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Fayyad said that the meeting took place in his office in Ramallah. (Maariv-Hebrew, 21Mar07)