Palestinian Official's Travel Limited:

Posted By: Jim Thatcher

By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI, Associated Press Writer

Unable to get visas to the United States and Europe, and barred from traveling to the West Bank city of Ramallah — the hub of Palestinian diplomatic activity — Zahar is relegated to working by telephone and visiting countries with little global influence.

But Zahar's limited power could help efforts by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who retains control of foreign policy, to head off international isolation following Hamas' assumption of power.

The international community has threatened to slap debilitating economic sanctions on the new Palestinian government unless Hamas recognizes Israel, accepts past peace deals and renounces violence. Israel has stopped transferring $55 million in monthly tax revenues it collects for the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, has rejected these demands, even though its government will be broke without aid from the United States, Europe, Japan and the Arab world, which contribute a large part of the Palestinian Authority's $1.9 billion annual budget.

In an Associated Press interview, Zahar, 55, said the U.S. is "committing big crimes against the Arab and Islamic countries." The comments brought a swift response from the U.S. ambassador at the United Nations, John Bolton.

"We obviously unequivocally reject that proposition, and I would note also to foreign minister Zahar that casual slander is an inauspicious way to begin."

"We will continue to judge Hamas by its actions, not its words," Bolton said, contending that Hamas is a terror group "that is responsible for the murder of hundreds of innocent civilians."

Hamas will not accept aid from countries that want "to twist the neck of our national interests," Zahar told the AP.

"We are going to open new channels, different continents, whether in South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and also the Middle East," Zahar said. "We have a full agenda, full agreement on these issues. We are going to do our best to pave the way for good relations between the Palestinian government and these countries."

Canada announced Wednesday, hours after the new Hamas government was sworn in, that it was suspending or restructuring some $6.3 million in projects so the Palestinian Authority would no longer be the direct recipient of funding.

Iran and other Arab countries have promised to assist the Palestinian Authority financially, but no dollar figure for new aid has been given. In the past, the Arab world has given only a small fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars it has pledged.

"Financially, Europe and Japan are the biggest, and the U.S. is the most influential. This is where he (Zahar) has no open doors at all," said independent Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi.

Abbas, aware of how desperately the Palestinian Authority needs Western aid and ties with Israel to survive, is busy with damage control, she added.

PLO Foreign Minister Farouk Kaddoumi holds some diplomatic clout, but the Palestinian Authority has managed to sideline the hard-liner who opposed peace deals with Israel, giving Abbas a virtual monopoly over relations with the international community.

Abbas, as president of the Palestinian Authority and PLO chairman, has the sole right to appoint ambassadors and determine foreign policy. Even in the Arab world — where the new Hamas government is recognized — leaders prefer to meet with Abbas, whom they have known for years.

On Thursday, Abbas visited South Africa, a country that has openly accepted the Hamas government, but he chose to leave Zahar behind in Gaza.

The outgoing foreign minister, Nasser Al Kidwa of Fatah, said it would be hard for Zahar to do his job without traveling to the United States, Europe and especially Ramallah.

Citing security concerns, Israel has barred Zahar and other Hamas leaders, including Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, from making the 43-mile trip from Gaza to Ramallah through Israel.

Zahar, a firebrand founder of Hamas who promotes the group's ideology that rejects the existence of a Jewish state in an Islamic Middle East, could also find his new post difficult because he does not have the character of a diplomat, said Nader Izzat Said, a Palestinian political analyst.

He said Zahar's appointment is "symbolic of the fact that they want to focus internally" on issues that brought them to power, such as government corruption and poverty.

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