VZCZCXYZ0010
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSP #0272 0611836
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 021836Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6496
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT OF SPAIN 000272 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAR, NEA/IPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/02/2016 
TAGS: PREL
SUBJECT: T&T FM NONCOMMITTAL ON US-RECOMMENDED BEHAVIOR 
TOWARD HAMAS 
 
REF: SECSTATE 27174 
 
Classified By: POL:  ARABBY FOR 1.4 (b/d) 
 
 ¶1.  (C) Ambassador called on Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) 
Foreign Minister Knowlson Gift, on March 1, to present him 
with Reftel talking points regarding official contact with 
representatives of the newly-elected Hamas government of the 
Palestinian Authority.  The Ambassador noted the US and EU 
designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization and stated 
the US policy of no contact with Hamas representatives as 
long as Hamas does not fulfill the Quartet,s preconditions: 
renounce violence, recognize Israel,s right to exist and 
abide by commitments and obligations already agreed to by the 
Palestinian Authority. 
 
¶2.  (C) The Ambassador urged Gift to avoid political-level 
meetings with Hamas representatives and to remind any Hamas 
delegation seeking support and legitimacy that, unless Hamas 
accepts the Quartet,s preconditions, it will be increasingly 
isolated and will likely lose all donor support.  The 
Ambassador specifically emphasized that only a united front 
by the international community against Hamas can ensure the 
continued viability of the roadmap toward a negotiated 
two-state solution and can maximize the chances for peace. 
 
¶3.  (C) Gift responded coolly.  He wondered if the 
precondition of recognizing Israel,s right to exist was 
&reasonable8, and asked if the US threat of the loss of 
donor support included humanitarian relief.  The Ambassador 
said that, as in the case of the admittedly ill-fated 
oil-for-food arrangement with Iraq, the US will always find 
ways of maintaining the supply of humanitarian aid to the 
Palestinian people, while penalizing their government.  Gift 
said that, although he has heard of some unclearly identified 
Palestinian group in Belize, there seems to be no organized 
Palestinian group in T&T, and he has certainly not met with 
any Hamas representatives. 
 
¶4.  (C) COMMENT:  Enlisting GOTT support for US positions on 
the Middle East conflict has always been problematic, 
possibly because of T&T's traditional status as a non-aligned 
nation.  Alternatively, the difficulty may lie in the 
country's ethnic profile.  T&T,s Muslim minority numbers 
approximately 60,000 (or some 5% of the total population), 
and includes very successful Syrian and Lebanese communities 
as well as the extremist Jamaat-al-Muslimeen group whose 
leader, Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, is currently in jail, awaiting 
trial on charges of terrorism, sedition and incitement to 
violence.  The existence of a Muslim/Arab minority does not 
prevent the GOTT from doing business with Israel: Israel has 
sold T&T state-of-the-art radar technology for drug 
interdiction purposes, and in November 2005, Prime Minister 
Patrick Manning visited Israel on a mission whose purpose has 
never been entirely clear. Manning was roundly criticized for 
that trip by certain segments of the political class, so it 
is possible that the GOTT may have decided to give the Middle 
East conflict a wide berth, unless an overt demonstration of 
links with Israel or support for US Middle East policy are 
clearly in T&T,s national interest. 
AUSTIN