The Israeli Cabinet overwhelmingly approved the imposition of a range of sanctions against the Palestinian Authority yesterday following the formation of a government led by Hamas, public radio reported.
The sanctions will see Israel halt the payment of customs duties it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, worth around US$50 million a month, as well as prevent residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip from crossing into Israel for work.
Israel collects and transfers tens of millions of dollars in tax money for the Palestinians each month. The money is essential for the Palestinian Authority [PA] to meet its monthly payroll for about 140,000 workers.
Withhold aid
The ministers also urged the international community to withhold most aid to the Palestinian Authority, although it said humanitarian assistance should continue. But they stopped short of more drastic measures, including sealing off the Gaza Strip, favored by security officials.
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert put forward the range of sanctions for approval before the Cabinet after declaring that a government led by Hamas, the landslide winners of a Jan. 25 general election, would be regarded as a terrorist regime.
The new Hamas-dominated parliament was sworn in on Saturday while Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas is due to hold talks in Gaza later in the day to ask Hamas to form a new government.
"It is clear that in light of the Hamas majority in the PLC [parliament] and the instructions to form a new government that were given to the head of Hamas, the PA is, in practice, becoming a terrorist authority. The state of Israel will not agree to this," Olmert said at the Cabinet.
"As we stated immediately after the PA elections, upon the conclusion of the transitional government, Israel will immediately cease the transfer of funds to the PA."
Meanwhile, Ismail Haniyeh, a prominent Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, was nominated to be Palestinian prime minister.
The militant group announced the nomination in a text message, a day after its members were sworn into the new Hamas-dominated Palestinian parliament. The nomination was widely expected.
Haniyeh, 46, is seen as a leader of the more pragmatic wing of Hamas.
Abbas was expected later yesterday to formally charge Haniyeh with the task of putting together a new Cabinet. Haniyeh would then have three weeks to submit a government to Abbas for approval.
Peace accords
Addressing the parliament on Saturday, Abbas said he expected Hamas to honor existing peace accords with Israel and halt violence. Hamas leaders rejected those calls, but signaled a willingness to compromise.
Born in Gaza's Shati refugee camp, Haniyeh graduated from Islamic University in 1987 with a degree in Arabic literature and became a close associate of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin.
Haniyeh was expelled by Israel to south Lebanon in 1992, returned to Gaza a year later and became the dean of the Islamic University. In 1998, he took charge of Yassin's office.
A pragmatist, he served as a liaison between Hamas and Palestinian Authority, established in 1994 and dominated by the rival Fatah movement.
He rose to prominence after Israel's assassinations in 2004 of Yassin and Yassin's successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi. He has been a member of the political leadership of Hamas since the 1990s.
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