TERRORIST FINANCE:THE HAGUE - NOTIFICATION OF

S E C R E T THE HAGUE 002113 SIPDIS STATE FOR EB/ESC/ESP/GLASS, S/CT (FOX),EUR/ERA(PARKER), EUR/UBI (HOLLIDAY),IO/PHO (PEREZ),INR/EC TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL (AUFHAUSER),TREASURY (ZARATE),OFAC DIRECTOR (NEWCOMB),TASF FORCE ON TERR... 10222 2003-08-21 03THEHAGUE2113 Embassy The Hague SECRET 03STATE242722|03THEHAGUE1146|03THEHAGUE1548 S E C R E T THE HAGUE 002113 SIPDIS STATE FOR EB/ESC/ESP/GLASS, S/CT (FOX),EUR/ERA(PARKER), EUR/UBI (HOLLIDAY),IO/PHO (PEREZ),INR/EC TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL (AUFHAUSER),TREASURY (ZARATE),OFAC DIRECTOR (NEWCOMB),TASF FORCE ON TERRORIST FINANCING NSC FOR JMEYERS JUSTICE FOR OIA/FRIEDMAN BRUSSELS ALSO FOR LEGATT E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/20/2018 TAGS: ETTC EFIN PTER PREL KVPR CVIS KPAL NL EUN SUBJECT: TERRORIST FINANCE:THE HAGUE - NOTIFICATION OF HAMAS NAMES REF: A. STATE 242722 ¶B. THE HAGUE 1548 ¶C. THE HAGUE 1146 Classified By: Acting Economic Counselor Todd Kushner. Reason 1.5(b) a nd (d) ¶1. (S) The GONL has responded to the August 19 suicide attack in Jerusalem by calling on fellow EU members and the EU Commission (via diplomatic demarche) to convene the EU clearinghouse as quickly as possible in order to move forward with designating Hamas. Because large numbers of European officials are still on summer holidays, the Dutch do not expect a clearinghouse meeting to be convened before early September, but they think it is important to attempt to jumpstart the process. Key to getting a positive EU decision on Hamas, Dutch officials noted, will largely depend on the positions taken by France and Belgium. Those member states who may want to continue holding up the Hamas designation, these officials speculated, may try to argue that the suicide bombing was not a breech of the ceasefire by Hamas but retaliation by Hamas for Israeli ceasefire violations. The Dutch reject this argument. ¶2. (C) The Presidential announcement will be sufficient to ensure the Hamas-related designations of August 21 can be considered by the clearinghouse, according to the Dutch. The case against each of the individuals and entities would be considered separately. However, the willlingness of some EU members to move forward will depend on the quality of information in each individual dossier. The Dutch expect that any EU designations of Hamas charities operating in Europe will be challenged in court by those designated. ¶3. (C) Dutch officials were pleased by the U.S. indication (ref a) that we do not want charitable activity in the Palestinian territories to cease and that we want to explore ways to ensure humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian territories can continue to flow. The Netherlands has previously stressed the importance it places on this point (ref b,c) and would like to actively engage with us to find ways for humanitarian assistance to flow. They have also indicated to us the need to work with the Palestinian Authority and international financial community to ensure stricter control of all funds going into Palestinian territory, including through wire transfers. SOBEL