ISRAEL/GAZA: Israel's Ehud Olmert says will not cooparate with a Hamas-led government

Record ID: 398357

  • Title: ISRAEL/GAZA: Israel's Ehud Olmert says will not cooparate with a Hamas-led government
  • Date: 8th February 2006
  • Summary: (BN08) TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (FEBRUARY 6, 2006) (REUTERS) INTERIM ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER EHUD OLMERT APPROACHING PODIUM AT 'THE MARKER' ECONOMIC CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) INTERIM ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER EHUD OLMERT SAYING: "We have no interest in hurting the head of the Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen. He (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) was elected in direct elec
  • Embargoed: 23rd February 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2BCRW2156PMVFM9SMTD0J00GA
  • Story Text: Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday (February 6) that Israel has no intention of weakening Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and hopes it can cooperate with the moderate leader despite Hamas's election win. "We have no interest in hurting the head of the Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen," Olmert said in a speech, referring to Abbas, whose Fatah party was crushed by Hamas, a group dedicated to Israel's destruction, in the Jan. 25 parliamentary ballot. "As long as he does not cooperate with Hamas and the Palestinian government is not a Hamas government, we will cooperate with the Palestinian Authority cautiously and responsibly," he said in broadcast remarks.
    Olmert's comments coincided with a report in the Haaretz newspaper that Abbas recently sent emissaries to tell Israeli officials he would continue to be responsible for diplomatic contacts with Israel after Hamas's victory.
    Abbas requested, the Israeli daily reported, that Israel keep open a dialogue with him, receiving assurances from Olmert that it would. In his speech to a business conference in Tel Aviv, Olmert said Israel was interested in strengthening Palestinians who "recognise Israel's right to live without terror, within secure borders" -- a clear nod towards Abbas.
    Olmert, who has threatened unilateral moves in the absence of a peace partner, said in the speech Israel wanted to avoid "playing into the hands of extremists" and missing "the chance that may exist for new hope for Palestinians and Israelis". That was the reasoning, he said, behind his cabinet's decision on Sunday to transfer to the Palestinian Authority nearly $55 million in tax revenues Israel collects monthly on behalf of the Palestinians under interim peace deals. Israel had frozen the funds, pending a policy review, after Hamas won the election. The United States pressured Israel to release the money, vital to the Palestinian economy.
    The United States had urged Israel to keep up the tax payments, at least until Hamas, which has called for the destruction of the Jewish state, formally enters the government. Tax revenues Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority are the main source of funding for the Palestinian budget and are used to pay 140,000 government workers.
    To make up for lost revenue, the Palestinians had hoped to receive cash infusions soon from Saudi Arabia and other Arab states. The Palestinian Authority runs on a budget of about $100 million a month. In addition to the taxes collected by Israel, it receives about $1 billion from international donors.
    Meanwhile, several thousands of mourners marched in a mass funeral procession for the top bombmaker for Islamic Jihad and another top gunman who were killed overnight in an Israeli air raid in Gaza City.
    Witnesses said Israeli aircraft fired two missiles that blew up two vehicles, killing Adnan Bustan, 28, the head of Islamic Jihad's unit that produces rockets and explosives, and Jihad al-Sawafiri, 31, who led a rocket firing squad. Islamic Jihad had claimed responsibility for one of the worst recent rocket strikes from Gaza on Israel, in which three Israelis were wounded, including a baby, on Friday.
    Hundreds of angry supporters gathered outside a morgue where the bodies were taken and chanted: "Death to Israel, Death to America", as gunmen fired rifles into the air.
    The bloodshed was the worst since the Islamic militant group Hamas scored a crushing victory over President Mahmoud Abbas's long-dominant Fatah faction in a Jan. 25 parliamentary election.
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