NETHERLANDS/PALESTINIAN ASSISTANCE: NO AID TO OR

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000830 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPAL KWBG GZ IS NL SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS/PALESTINIAN ASSISTANCE: NO AID TO OR THROUGH HAMAS REF: A. STATE 56323 ¶B. THE HAGUE 701 ¶C. "POLITICS IN THE NL" 4/12-4/13/2006 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The Dutch support channeling Palestinian assistance through non-Hamas channels, but worry that existing aid organizations do not have the absorptive capacity to handle a large cash influx. The Director of the Dutch MFA's Department of Middle Eastern and North African Affairs hopes to discuss this question and other issues when she visits the U.S. April 19-21. The GONL rejects the conclusions of a recent paper by a government-sponsored think tank advocating establishing contacts with Hamas and Hizballah. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) The Dutch government will reject contacts with Hamas and Hamas-led Palestinian entities as long as the organization refuses to recognize Israel, renounce violence and terror, and accept previous international obligations, according to Henriette van Lynden, Director of the Department of Middle East and North African Affairs at the Dutch MFA. On April 13, POLCOUNS delivered ref a points on the USG's new strategy for Palestinian Assistance, as well as the text of the Secretary's April 7 statement, State Department fact sheet, and transcript of A/S Welch's press conference to van Lynden and MFA Senior Policy Expert Roger van Laak. Van Lynden and van Laak stressed that the new U.S. strategy was consistent with the Dutch national approach and that of the EU. ¶3. (SBU) Although van Lynden and van Laak agreed that more aid should be channeled through non-Hamas channels, they questioned whether UNRWA and other assistance organizations had sufficient absorptive capacities to handle the anticipated increase in funding. POLCOUNS suggested that this was a technical matter rather than a policy question, and should be taken up in the appropriate fora. Van Lynden agreed, and said she hoped to have an opportunity to discuss this question and other related issues with USG interlocutors during her upcoming visit to Washington and New York April 19-21. ¶4. (SBU) Referring to press reports, POLCOUNS asked how the government planned to respond to a recently released Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) paper advocating that the GONL establish contacts with "political" elements within Hamas and Hizballah (ref c). Noting that Foreign Minister Bot had already forcefully rejected the notion of such ties (refs and c),van Laak confirmed that the GONL was required by law to respond in parliament to the WRR report within the next several weeks. (Note: The WRR is a government-funded think tank but operates independently; its mandate includes producing provocative, "outside the box" recommendations which frequently challenge existing GONL policies. End Note.) While the paper, entitled "Dynamism in Islamic Activism, Leads for Democracy and Human Rights," covered many different subjects, van Laak continued, he had no doubt that the formal GONL response would reject its calls for establishing contact with terrorist groups like Hamas and Hizballah. Politically, he said, there was "absolutely no flexibility" on this point within the GONL, and he strongly doubted that public opinion would favor such a step either. BLAKEMAN