Israel and US move to cripple Hamas

Israel has imposed sanctions on Palestinians after President Mahmoud Abbas charged Hamas with forming a government. Ehud Olmert, the acting Israeli prime minister, said: "The Palestinian Authority (PA) is in practice becoming a terrorist authority. We will not agree to this." On Feb. 19 his government voted to withhold the approximately $50 million a month it collects in tax revenues for the Palestinians and barred Hamas members of parliament and other VIPs from crossing Israeli checkpoints. It will boycott all bodies in which Hamas plays any part. Israel appealed to foreign governments to stop transferring aid money to the Palestinian treasury, and announced that henceforth it would block military assistance to the Palestinian security services. The tax revenues fund about half the payroll of the PA, which could be forced to dismiss tens of thousands of workers. Olmert's announcement came after the New York Times reported last week that Israel and the US had decided to isolate the new Hamas government and lay the ground for a political crisis which would lead to fresh elections. The US has already said that it is reviewing all aid to the Palestinians in light of Hamas's election victory. As proof that it is serious, this past week Washington demanded that the PA return $50 million in aid that could fall under Hamas control. The US State Department said that it did not want the money going to a Hamas-led government that refused to recognize Israel. The Palestinian Authority promptly agreed to return the money. The money was to be spent on regenerating the Palestinian economy following Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. On Feb. 14 the New York Times quoted unnamed "officials and diplomats" as saying the intention was to starve the PA of money and international contacts to the extent that Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, would be forced to call new elections which would return Fatah to power. Commenting on the report, Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman and newly elected legislator, said: "This is... a rejection of the democratic process, which the Americans are calling for day and night. It's an interference and a collective punishment of our people because they practiced the democratic process in a transparent and honest way." Salah Bardawil, a Hamas spokesman, denounced Israel and the US for trying to scare them. "Israel is trying to strangle us and hit us where it hurts," he said, "but we will not sell our principles. Europe and the Arab countries will find themselves in an embarrassing situation if they collaborate with Israel in imposing a financial siege." As an example of the new tough line, Israel also announced that customs officers at Ashdod Port had seized 31 containers of cargo, worth millions of dollars, imported by a Gaza company. Meanwhile, Israeli air and ground forces killed four Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza that day. Two teenagers died when Israeli troops fired on rioters in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus after they had gone in to search for wanted gunmen. As this happened, Hamas named Ismail Haniyeh, one of its leaders in the Gaza strip, to be the next Palestinian prime minister. Haniyeh said that in talks to form the new government "everything will be on the table," including demands by Abbas for Hamas to abide by agreements with Israel. At the swearing in of the new parliament on Feb. 18, in which Hamas holds 74 of the 132 seats, however, Abbas warned Israel against using the Hamas victory as an excuse to continue its strategy to unilaterally impose borders and annex territory. The election "should not be used to justify further aggression against our people, or as a pretext for blackmailing it. The Palestinian people should not be punished for its democratic choice that was expressed through the ballot box," he said. Abbas accused Israel of undermining the peace process. "Ariel Sharon... declared an open battle against the Palestinian people, and proceeded to systematically destroy the PA's institutions and frameworks," he said. "During this period, the racist separation wall was built and settlement construction in the West Bank was doubled. Sharon introduced an iron fist policy against the Palestinian people." Abbas called on the "civilized world" to force Israel back to negotiations. "Anybody who thinks that these kinds of policies would force our people to hoist the white flag and to give up is mistaken."