DAR AL HARB - U.K.: ANXIOUS DHIMMIS, IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, WANT TO RESUME THEIR JIZYA PAYMENTS THE ARABS LIVING IN PALESTINE

Mecca agreement must lead end of Palestinian sanctions, say UK MPs

Britain's International Development Committee Friday called for an end to international financial sanctions against the elected Hamas-led Palestinian government following reports of a 'Mecca Agreement' to form a national unity government.

"We welcome this new agreement between Hamas and Fatah and see this as the opportunity for the Quartet to relax their restrictions on development assistance to the Palestinian Authority," said the Conservative chair of the Committee, Malcolm Bruce.

"Only then can we hope to curb the downward spiral of poverty and suffering that the Palestinian people are trapped in," Bruce said.

Under the Mecca agreement, Ismail Haniya is to remain Palestinian prime minister, while Hamas will take nine cabinet posts, Fatah six and one each to four other parties.

But there has been a mute response by the US, while Israel appeared to provoke more hostilities by starting controversial work near al-Aqsa mosque in the holy city of Jerusalem.

Bruce said his all-party parliamentary committee was "very worried that the international community is in danger of preventing the creation of a viable Palestinian state." "A way must be found for the Quartet to engage with the PA (Palestinian Authority) and end the humanitarian catastrophe which is unraveling," he warned.

Last week, his committee called on the British government to end its boycott of the Palestinian government, after reporting that the situation in the occupied territories is worse politically, economically and socially than it was in 2004.

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1) Mecca agreement must lead end of Palestinian sanctions, say UK MPs