MIDDLE EAST: With a new Palestinian parliament dominated by Hamas to be sworn in tomorrow, Israel is close to imposing a virtual siege on Gaza that would include the freezing of funds to the Palestinian Authority and a ban on Gazan workers from entering Israel.
Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, plans to call on Hamas to denounce violence and recognise all agreements with Israel, but will stop short of calling on the group to recognise the Jewish state.
Israel's acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert, will today review a series of recommendations made by the defence establishment aimed at putting pressure on the Islamic movement, which won a stunning victory in parliamentary elections last month and which does not recognise Israel's right to exist.
"The swearing in of the Palestinian parliament on Saturday rings a warning bell for us," defence minister Shaul Mofaz reportedly told a meeting of defence officials yesterday. "A Hamas government will mean an authority of terror and murder."
Among the measures Mr Olmert is expected to approve is the freezing of much of the tax and customs duties Israel collects for the Palestinian Authority, an almost blanket ban on travel between Gaza and the West Bank, and a ban on the transfer of defence equipment to the Palestinians from foreign states - like armoured vehicles promised to the Palestinian Authority by Russia.
Defence officials have also recommended the freezing of a series of major projects, including the upgrading of border crossings in Gaza and the building of a seaport and an airport.
The measures would have a crippling effect on a Gaza economy already decimated by five years of the intifada uprising. Most of the goods exported from Gaza go through Israel and Israel is the major market for goods produced in the Strip. Barring Gazans from working in Israel would deny close to 10,000 Palestinians their income.
Israeli government officials said yesterday that humanitarian aid to the Palestinians would not be blocked. Foreign minister Tzipi Livni insisted Israel had no intention of "causing a humanitarian crisis". The proposed sanctions are part of an effort by Israel to put economic pressure on Hamas, which calls in its charter for Israel's destruction and which carried out most of the suicide bomb attacks during the intifada.
Mr Olmert has said Israel will have no contacts with Hamas until it recognises the Jewish state and renounces violence.
Mushir al-Masri, a newly-elected Hamas member, denounced the planned Israeli sanctions, calling them "collective punishment on our people who have practised their democratic right".
Mr Abbas is expected to make his demands of Hamas during a speech at the opening of the new parliament tomorrow. Hamas has five weeks to form a government from the time Mr Abbas asks them to do so.