Mayor Rudy Giuliani was in the DC area yesterday for a series of events – and his talk turned several times to issues of concern to our community, especially re: the current challenge of shaping a new U.S. policy toward the Palestinians in the wake of the Hamas-Fatah war and split. As noted by the NYTimes, Rudy chimed in with his “cautious” support for the approach President Bush is taking of trying to bolster Abbas and Fatah and isolate Hamas and Gaza. IPA staff were present at an event later in the day where Rudy elaborated on this topic more and underscored his “caution” stemming from the track record of Palestinian leaders in the past giving him great skepticism about a new effort succeeding. Rudy also questioned the advisability of giving U.S. funds to the UN Relief Works Agency for its work in Gaza.

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