ISRAEL / PALESTINE: Israel has imposed punitive economic sanctions on the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the wake of the inauguration of a new Hamas-led parliament at the weekend.
The Israeli cabinet voted yesterday to halt monthly payments of some €37 million in monthly customs revenues owed to the cash-strapped PA, branding it "a terrorist body" ahead of Hamas's imminent formation of a new government. Israel said it will also appeal to the international community - which has cautioned against prematurely imposing punitive sanctions on the Palestinian population - to halt all financial assistance to the PA, except direct humanitarian aid.
"The swearing-in of the Palestinian legislative council means that Hamas has - in effect - taken control of the Palestinian Authority," acting Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said at yesterday's weekly cabinet meeting. "Israel views the rise of Hamas as a dangerous milestone that turns the PA into a terrorist authority."
The Islamic militant group, Hamas, has remained defiant in face of anticipated Israeli sanctions, saying it will raise funding shortfalls from Arab nations.
The newly elected speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Prof Aziz Dweik, denounced Israel's decision as a ploy to gather public support ahead of Israel's parliamentary elections next month, saying it would prove counter-productive.
"This is a faulty decision and the Israelis must reconsider their decision," he said. "It will only increase hatred."
Although Hamas faces boycott calls from major western powers unless it softens its anti-Israeli line, the EU and the United States do not want to push the Palestinian Authority to collapse or to seek alternative funding from states such as Iran.
Israel's decision on sanctions came as the militant Islamic group swept to power in last month's elections, confirming that its senior Gaza member Ismail Haniyeh was its candidate for prime minister.
Mr Haniyeh (46), an Islamic scholar widely viewed as a charismatic, moderate and pragmatic leader, now has five weeks to form what is only the second elected Palestinian government in the West Bank and Gaza.
His nomination came a day after Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas asked Hamas to move quickly to form a new government, while challenging it to moderate its radical stance by recognising existing agreements with Israel.
At Saturday's swearing in of parliament in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Mr Abbas said "the presidency and the government will continue to respect our commitment to the negotiation process as the sole political, pragmatic and strategic choice".
However, he stopped short of making this a precondition of Hamas forming a cabinet.
While several Hamas lawmakers said the group would never agree to negotiations with Israel, both President Abbas and Mr Haniyeh struck a more conciliatory note, saying they would seek to resolve their deep differences through dialogue aimed at avoiding a crisis that could lead to the collapse of the authority.
While Hamas has largely adhered to a truce for the past year, it has defied international pressure since its startling electoral victory last month, by refusing to abandon armed resistance and its formal pledge to Israel's destruction.
The group boycotted the first parliamentary elections in 1996 and has rejected all previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements, although its participation in last month's poll was in itself a tacit recognition of prior accords as well as Israel's right to exist.
However, the radical group is reluctant to abandon its aggressive rhetoric while Israel's increasingly harsh regime of military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza continues.
Saturday's solemn inaugural parliamentary session was held in the Muqata presidential compound in Ramallah, while lawmakers in Gaza, who were prevented by Israel from travelling to the West Bank, watched via a video link.
The joint sitting began with an incantation of a Koranic verse and a roll-call of the 132 new lawmakers, about a tenth of whom are in Israeli prisons. The new Palestinian MPs took their oath of office collectively, reciting a prayer with upturned palms.
Many of the new male Hamas MPs sport traditional Muslim beards, while the women wear headscarves and modest long robes, setting them apart from other secular and unveiled female parliamentarians.
Some members held up photographs of fellow legislators sitting in Israeli jails while, outside the gates of the compound, relatives of political prisoners gathered in protest to press for their release.
Hamas controls 74 of the Palestinian legislative council's 132 seats, but Mr Abbas retains significant power as independently elected president, with considerable control over foreign affairs, security and peace negotiations.
The outgoing parliament, controlled by Mr Abbas's once-dominant Fatah movement, approved the creation of a constitutional court that would give the president more power over a Hamas-led government.