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Hamas presents its pick for Palestinian PM
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-21 08:44 Islamic Jihad leader Sheik Nafez Azzam said the group, which boycotted the
election, would not join the government. The PFLP, which won just three seats,
did not give an answer.
It had been expected that Haniyeh, a relative moderate by Hamas standards,
would receive the official appointment on Monday. Palestinian officials did not
explain the delay, but Abbas has been pressing Hamas to moderate its anti-Israel
positions and accept the idea of peace talks. Hamas has refused.
The Israeli Cabinet decided Sunday to stop the transfer of the roughly $55
million a month it collects in taxes and tariffs on behalf of the Palestinian
Authority. But the Cabinet declined to adopt tougher restrictions proposed by
some Israeli security officials, including sealing off the Gaza Strip from
Israel, barring thousands of Palestinian laborers from entering Israel and
eliminating all trade with the impoverished area.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talked Monday with partners in the
so-called Quartet of Mideast peace negotiators about the financial situation of
the Palestinian territories and their new leaders, a State Department spokesman
said.
The conversation between Rice and representatives of Russia, the European
Union and the United Nations "covered issues of support to the Palestinian
people," spokesman Noel Clay said.
He also said the negotiations "took note" of another statement by Israel on
Sunday that it would ask the international community to stop giving money to the
Palestinians but humanitarian aid should continue.
Many Western countries have threatened to cut off hundreds of millions of
dollars in funding for the Palestinian Authority if Hamas does not moderate.
Clay said the U.S. would stay in touch with other donors about funding as
Hamas forms a government.
The process of picking Haniyeh as prime minister-designate is a mere
formality after the Jan. 25 election in which Hamas won 74 seats in the
132-member legislature. Abbas' Fatah Party, which had dominated Palestinian life
for four decades, won only 45.
Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said further talks were set for Tuesday, when
Abbas will formally ask Haniyeh to form a government. Haniyeh will then have
five weeks to do so.
Even before he takes office, Haniyeh has been shunned by Israel, the U.S. and
the Europe Union, which consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
Yuval Diskin, head of the Israeli Shin Bet security agency, said a Hamas
entity next to Israel is a "strategic threat" as the group could invite
extremist Islamic terror networks like al-Qaida and Hezbollah to operate in
Palestinian areas.
"This will be a radical Sunni state that radical forces can reach from around
the world," he told a parliamentary committee.
Acting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called for the international
community to have "a united front regarding the legitimacy of the Palestinian
Authority in the Hamas era," she said.
Israel's decision to freeze transfer of tax money collected for the
Palestinians drew criticism Monday from the U.N. envoy to the Middle East,
Alvaro de Soto, who said the move was "premature" and noted the money belongs to
the Palestinians.
Israeli official Raanan Gissin rebuffed charges that Israel was breaking the
interim peace accord that mandates handing over the funds.
He said the Israelis were not obligated to transfer funds that could be use
for terrorism because "Hamas does not respect" the agreement.
Israeli forces, meanwhile, hunted militants in the West Bank city of Nablus
and Palestinian hospital officials said 23 people were wounded in clashes.
Soldiers shot to death Ahmed Abu Sharik, 30, Islamic Jihad's top commander in
the region, on Monday, the militant group said.
Israeli commander Lt. Col. Benjamin Shick said his forces caught a group of
militants, including Abu Sharik, off-guard on the second day of their Nablus
raid.
Military officials said Abu Sharik was involved in numerous attacks on
Israeli soldiers, and helped plan a recent suicide attack in Tel
Aviv.
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