Saudis reject cutting aid to Palestinians

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia on Wednesday became the second Arab ally in as many days to reject the U.S. strategy of financially isolating Hamas if the militant group does not moderate its policies as leader of the Palestinians.

As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sat nearby, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said through a translator, “We wish not to link financial assistance to the Palestinian people to issues other than their dire humanitarian needs.”

A day earlier, Rice had stood by as Saud’s Egyptian counterpart said it was premature to cut off aid to a Hamas-led government.

Saud and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the world should not “prejudge” Hamas, whose sweep in Palestinian elections last month stunned Washington and threw the Israeli-Palestinian peace process into new turmoil.

Earlier Wednesday, Rice pledged to a group of Egyptian democracy activists that the United States would continue applying pressure on Egypt’s government to meet its promises of reform.

“One good thing about having the president stand for election and ask for the consent of the governed is that there is a program,” Rice told a group of dissidents, editors and professors.