Arabs to resist Rice isolating Hamas, Iran on trip

WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will face resistance from Arab allies on a trip this week to enlist their support for a campaign to isolate two U.S. adversaries, Hamas and Iran.

Rice, who will visit Egypt on Tuesday and travel to Saudi Arabia and to a regional meeting in the United Arab Emirates, will lobby states to deny aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian government and push Iran to curb its nuclear plans.

Arab powers such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia oppose Hamas' rejection of peace talks with Israel and fear a nuclear-armed Iran.

But they are reluctant to explicitly support America in the Middle East, where U.S. backing for its top ally in the region, Israel, angers many Arabs and clouds governments' cooperation with Washington.

"Arabs will turn round and point out the United States gives billions of dollars to Israel," said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank. "It's just an area where they will have to agree to disagree."

Complicating her mission, Rice will also make her appeal against a backdrop of deadly anti-Western protests in the Muslim world over cartoons published in Europe of Prophet Mohammad.

On Hamas, which the United States considers a terrorist organization, Rice has led a faltering campaign to cut off diplomatic ties and aid to the anti-Israel Islamic group since it won a parliamentary election last month.

She has won commitments from major powers such as the European Union and Russia to demand that Hamas, which has launched suicide attacks against Israel, renounce violence, recognize the Jewish state and live up to peace accords.

But Hamas has rejected the demands, Moscow and others have agreed to meet its leaders and few countries have agreed to end assistance to the aid-dependent Palestinian Authority when the militants form a Cabinet.

Rice told Arab media in an interview previewing her message to the region that money for Hamas would undercut the Arab governments' goal of an Israeli-Palestinian peace.

But with many Arabs treating support for Palestinians as a major regional cause, Rice will struggle to persuade governments to back any policies that could be seen as hurting their neighbors in the occupied territories.

IRAN THREAT

Rice has gradually won more support against Iran from Europe, Russia and China and next month Tehran's case goes before the U.N. Security Council because suspicions it wants a bomb linger despite its assertion its programs are peaceful.

To intensify the pressure, Rice now wants Arab states to tell Iran they will isolate it unless it meets the West's demands to avoid enriching uranium. She says that step will help the longtime U.S. foe acquire crucial nuclear know-how.

But against the backdrop of chaos in Iraq following the U.S. invasion, the Arab governments are especially reluctant to back American pressure against another neighbor for fear of destabilizing the region.

"This might lead to a conflict and I am worried that with everything happening around us, with the issues in Iraq, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, this issue could be the (straw that breaks the camel's back)," said Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, the foreign minister of Qatar, which is part of the Gulf Cooperation Council hosting Rice this week.

Ned Walker, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt and Israel, said Saudi worries over a nuclear Iran could lead to some pressure.

"But the Iranians are not going to blink because of Saudi desires or pressure," said Walker, who is now with the Washington-based think tank, the Middle East Institute. "There are not a whole lot of concrete things they can do."