West balks at Hamas victory

International donors whose funds sustained the Palestinian Authority (PA) for much of its life, and who are now alarmed at the win of Hamas in the Palestinian parliamentary elections, could cut off their aid, effectively threatening to bankrupt the future Hamas-led authority. In less than a week, the price of victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections for Islamic militant group Hamas started to become clear as Israel refused to hand over nearly $44 million in monthly tax revenue to the Palestinian Authority. The acting Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said he would not transfer monthly customs duties to the Palestinian Authority because he feared it would finance terrorism. "It must be made very clear, we are not going to transfer funds which could finance terrorist attacks against our civilians," he said. Hamas is responsible for more than 60 suicide bomb attacks against Israel. The monthly payment often covers salaries for public officials and security forces in the Palestinian territories. The European Union and the United States have reacted nervously to the Hamas win, with some officials calling for a total cut-off of foreign aid to Palestinian institutions. The Western nations have said they will not deal with a Hamas-led administration unless it renounces "terror" and recognizes Israel's right to exist. The White House signaled that it would sever hundreds of millions of dollars of financial aid to the Palestinian people unless Hamas changed its ways. "We do not and will not give money to a terrorist organization," said White House spokesperson Scott McClellan. The US channeled about $400 million to the Palestinian Authority last year, and Congress has already approved more than $200 million for this year. But members of congress have now signaled to President Bush that they will seek suspension of much of the aid money. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, also said Europe could halt hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians if Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist. Hamas says it will continue to fight Israel as long as it occupies Arab land. However, following their win, Hamas officials offered Israel a one-year extension of a current truce with the Jewish state. The World Bank estimates that $1.1 billion of the PA's budget in 2005–about half of the total–came from foreign donors. James Wolfensohn, the international community's special envoy to the region and former World Bank president, warned that cutting aid could throw the Palestinian economy into chaos. "The Palestinians are basically bankrupt," he said, adding that the PA has no funds to pay salaries of Palestinian government employees. "If you do not have the money to pay 135,000 Palestinians, you are going to have chaos." Meanwhile, the tensions within the Palestinian community in the electoral aftermath have risen dramatically. Members of the losing Fatah party marched to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' compound, police briefly stormed the parliament building in Gaza and security forces clashed with Hamas gunmen as the long-ruling party lashed out in anger for its devastating election loss. In Gaza, dozens of armed police officers–some wearing masks, others wearing Fatah headbands–briefly stormed the parliament building there, demanding an immediate trial for Hamas members who killed police in fighting in recent months. They also demanded the security forces remain in Fatah's hands. Earlier on Jan. 28, Hamas gunmen in Gaza wounded two Palestinian policemen in what authorities said was a roadside ambush, hours after two officers and a Hamas activist were wounded in another firefight. One of the officers remains in a coma from a bullet wound to the head. The election exposed deep tensions within Palestinian society and was a clear rebuke to Fatah for its corruption and inability to maintain order. Before the vote, veteran Fatah leaders, those most tainted by corruption allegations, resisted repeated calls for reform by the Fatah young guard. The protests began soon after Abbas said he would ask Hamas to form the next government. Hamas took 76 of the 132 parliament seats up for grabs. Finger-pointing increased within Fatah, meanwhile, following the defeat, which ended four decades of the party's dominance in Palestinian politics. Demonstrators demanded the resignation of the party's entire central committee, although only a few said that should include Abbas–who was elected last year to a four-year term as Palestinian Authority president. About 2,000 Fatah members marched through the West Bank city of Nablus, led by dozens of gunmen from the Fatah-allied Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, who fired in the air from the back of a truck. "We are now no longer part of the cease-fire," one of the gunmen, Nasser Haras, told the crowd. Palestinian militant groups agreed last year to a cease-fire with Israel. In Bethlehem, about 400 activists took over the Fatah party's local office and demanded the resignation of party leaders. In Tulkarem, gunman Ibrahim Khreisheh warned against cooperating with Hamas. "Whoever will participate in a government with Hamas, we will shoot him in the head," he said. The Fatah Revolutionary Council, a secondary party organ, expelled six members on Jan. 27 who had run as independents and lost. About 150 other renegade candidates were ordered expelled from the party. The car of one of the independents, Burhan Jarar, was torched the following day in the West Bank city of Jenin.