US ending years of Gaza civic work

Hamas's Ahmed Yousef wears a Statue of Liberty pin on his suit lapel. He began putting it on after 9/11, when he lived in the US, as a reminder of American values - and as a critique of the subsequent anti-Arab backlash he experienced.

But the symbol of freedom worn by Mr. Yousef, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's political adviser, is about the extent of the US presence found in the Gaza Strip these days. No US official has been on a visit here in more than six months.

Following the January electoral victory of Hamas, designated by the US as a terrorist organization, American officials in the region have been in the midst of a comprehensive reduction of all contacts with the Palestinian Authority (PA), from political ties to development aid.

As part of the rethink, relations with every Palestinian government ministry is now forbidden. US officials who have long been involved in assistance on security affairs are faced with trying to distinguish which of the Palestinian forces are under the interior minister or prime minister - and therefore off limits - and which are under the president, Mahmoud Abbas. Only offices under the helm of Mr. Abbas, the leading Fatah official, are open to US officials for dialogue.

"This isn't business as usual," says a senior US official. "We're not doing things as we've been doing them before."

And yet, in recent years, the US has invested heavily in cultivating a relationship with the Palestinians, focusing not just on reconciliation with Israel but on fostering democracy and rule of law.

Since 1993, the year former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signed a peace deal with Israel, the US has given $1.7 billion in assistance to the Palestinians. Does all of that work go to waste - or fall into deep-freeze - for as long as Hamas is in power?

Officials here, both Palestinians and Americans, say they hope not. The challenge, diplomats and development specialists are finding, is figuring out how to maintain some form of relationship when the political channels are at odds.

For Michael Murphy, who heads the local office of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), navigating the post-election political scene is a case in point. The Washington-based organization is one of the most active worldwide in democracy-building programs, focusing on training political parties and lawmakers.

But NDI, funded entirely by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has had its budget put on hold. In an interview in the NDI head office in Beit Hanina, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, Mr. Murphy says that he is finding it increasingly difficult to do his job while his local contacts look askance at the organization's roots in the US.

"It hasn't been lost on anyone that we've been promoting democracy, then we turn around and say, we don't like your choice," he says. "It confirms some fears that the US is not a fair broker.

"They won't see it's about rule of law and democracy if the international donors won't support the outcome of the elections," he adds. "I think it will damage the ability of the US to be a fair broker in the Israel-Palestinian conflict."

Mr. Murphy, who is Canadian, says that the fact that he isn't American does not necessarily make his job easier. Palestinian officials are quick to point out to him that Canada was the first country to declare, after Hamas swept to power, that it was cutting off aid to the PA.

Meanwhile, he says, colleagues in the development community are eyeing the sitaution warily. With the PA close to broke, government salaries have gone unpaid since March. Military groups loyal to Fatah and Hamas have been turning their weapons on each other with increasing frequency. "A PA that stops functioning or collapses," Murphy says, "is much worse than a Hamas-run PA, with all of its difficulties."

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