|
Hamas leader to form new Palestinian government
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-20 14:28
Ismail Haniyeh was to receive the official appointment to become the
first-ever Hamas prime minister of a Palestinian government, but Israel was not
waiting for the formalities - cutting off vital funds and branding the new
regime a "terrorist authority."
Ismail Haniyeh, a
senior Hamas leader, gestures during a news conference at his house in
Shati refugee camp in Gaza February 19, 2006.
[Reuters] | Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said
he would meet Hamas leaders on Monday to choose a premier, and Hamas said their
man would be Haniyeh, a relative moderate in the hierarchy of the violent
Islamic movement that has sent dozens of suicide bombers into Israel.
Early Monday, Israeli forces operating in the Old City of Nablus shot and
killed a senior member of Islamic Jihad, Palestinians said.
The Israeli military said it according to initial reports, Israeli soldiers
opened fire on armed Palestinians, killing a Fatah militant. The army also said
it had made 12 overnight arrests in the West Bank.
The Islamic Jihad in Nablus said its top commander in the region, Ahmad Abu
Sharik, 30, was killed in a gunbattle and two others were injured. Five
militants were arrested by the army in the Nablus region, Palestinians said.
On Sunday, four Palestinians were killed in two Israeli military operations
in the West Bank and Gaza.
Haniyeh would have five weeks to form a government. Hamas won an absolute
majority in the parliament and could rule on its own, but he prefers a
broad-based coalition, partially to deflect international criticism.
In its first official move Sunday, Israel halted a monthly transfer of funds
but did not adopt a tougher package of restrictions proposed by the defense
establishment.
Israel and Western countries demanded the group renounce
violence and recognize Israel's right to exist, but Hamas resisted pressure to
moderate. The group took control of the Palestinian legislature when the new
parliament was sworn in Saturday.
"The PA is _ in practice _ becoming a
terrorist authority," acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet
at the beginning of its meeting Sunday. "Israel will not hold contacts with a
government in which Hamas takes part."
The Cabinet decided to stop the transfer of the roughly US$55 million (euro46
million) a month it collects in taxes and tariffs on behalf of the Palestinian
Authority. The order did not specify when the payments would stop, but
government spokesman Asaf Shariv said the next payment, scheduled for early
March, "won't take place."
Army Radio quoted Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz saying the cutoff would be
reviewed each month.
The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority relies on that money to help pay the
salaries of roughly 140,000 government employees, including about 57,000 in the
security forces.
Abbas said cuts in aid are already being felt. "We are in real financial
crisis," he told reporters in Gaza. "We hope we can overcome it month by month."
Should the government, the Palestinians' largest employer, be forced to lay
off tens of thousands of workers, it would lead to increased chaos and poverty
in Palestinian towns throughout the West Bank and Gaza.
Palestinian experts estimate that the Palestinian budget shortfall is about
US$1 billion a year, and the Israel-collected funds would cover about half of
that.
However, the Cabinet held back from adopting far harsher proposals made by
Israeli security officials, including a recommendation to seal off the Gaza
Strip from Israel, barring thousands of Palestinian laborers from entering
Israel and eliminating all trade with the impoverished area.
Israel's acting foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, said the government did not
want to worsen the daily lives of Palestinians, a move she said would cause an
international backlash against Israel.
On Sunday, veteran peacemaker Shimon Peres, an Olmert ally, told a visiting
U.S. delegation, "We must see to it that not a single shekel reaches Hamas and
terrorism, and that not a single innocent Palestinian suffers from an economic
boycott."
Hamas is listed as a terror organization by the United States and the
European Union, and many Western countries have threatened to cut off hundreds
of millions of dollars in funding for the Palestinian Authority if the group
does not moderate.
Abbas said Sunday he agreed to return US$50 million in special aid given by
the US government. The US asked for the money after Hamas won parliamentary
elections.
However, the actual transfer of funds has not taken place,
Palestinian officials said.
On Friday, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington
requested return of the money to ensure that "these funds not potentially make
their way into the coffers of a future Palestinian government that might not
recognize the right of Israel to exist."
Abbas said he would discuss the matter with US envoys in the coming
days.
|
