 Iran offered Wednesday to help finance a Palestinian Authority run by the Hamas militant group, state radio reported. The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, announced the offer after a meeting with Khaled Mashaal, the political leader of the Hamas, in Tehran, the radio said. Larijani said the decision was taken after the United States said it would not provide aid to an authority governed by Hamas until the group renounced violence, recognized Israel and agreed to abide by existing agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.
| "We felt we could offer them a better deal," Larjani said... |
"The United States proved that it would not support democracy after it cut its aid to the Palestinian government after Hamas won the elections. We will certainly help the Palestinians," Larijani said, according to the radio. The United States and European Union, which consider Hamas a terrorist group, have said they will halt their grants of hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to the Palestinian Authority after a Hamas government takes office unless it changes its attitude toward Israel and violence.
| I imagine Medea Benjamin should be trotting out some starving Paleostinian children any time now... |
| ... dressed in pink, natch ... |
Hamas has long called for the destruction of Israel and has refused to negotiate with the Jewish state. Its leaders have refused to change their policies since the group won last month's Palestinian elections by a landslide. On Tuesday, a moderate Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was asked to form a government by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
| They're quick to put scare quotes around the word "terrorist," but they can call Haniyeh a moderate without even pausing for breath. |
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