Hamas fury over West's funding threats

Finance minister Omar Abdelrazeq accused the so-called Middle East quartet of ignoring the results of January's election after the group warned of dire consequences for Palestinian funding if Hamas does not modify its hardline stance.

Before the quartet (the European Union, Russia, the United

Nations and the United States) issued its statement, Canada had also provoked Palestinian anger by becoming the first Western nation to formally freeze all its aid.

The Hague later said the Netherlands would also boycott the Hamas government but would continue to meet Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas and his advisors.

While Hamas tried to present a brave face, the funding threats were a blow for a cash-strapped administration that has already suffered an Israeli freeze in customs duty payments collected for the Palestinian Authority.

The European Union, Israel and the United States regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation, given its track record of suicide bombings, its rejection of previous peace agreements and its refusal to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist.

In the two months since its landslide election victory, Hamas has refused to yield to pressure for a change in its positions.

On the very same day, Hamas ministers took office the quartet put the Islamist government on notice.

The group warned in a statement "that future assistance to any new government would be reviewed by donors against that government's commitment" to nonviolence, recognising Israel and accepting previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

"The quartet concurred that there inevitably will be an effect on direct assistance to that government and its ministries," it added.

In response, Abdelrazeq criticized the quartet for eschewing dialogue and instead issuing what he called "threats through the media".

"That surprises us that the Western societies are refusing the results of a democratic process that all observers agreed went on in a good manner," he told AFP.

But he said he was not worried about the finances of his administration as it had alternative sources of funding.

"We will not be bankrupt, we have other resources and we are considering other measures. We also have the support of the Arab countries," he said.

Speaking in an interview with CNN, Abbas said Hamas was well aware of its economic and political responsibilities, but counseled patience.

"Hamas knows it is now responsible. It is the government responsible for the well-being of the Palestinian people... economically and politically. Therefore it knows well what is required of it but let us wait a bit."

Jordan's King Abdullah II pleaded with the West not to slash funding for the Palestinians during a meeting with the quartet's special envoy James Wolfensohn.

"The international community should not turn its back on the Palestinian people when it is facing poverty and unemployment," Abdullah said.

In a keynote speech on Monday, prime minister Ismail Haniya said his government was ready to talk to the international community to end the Middle East conflict, but his entreaties received short shrift.

US President George W. Bush said it made "no sense" to support the Hamas-led administration unless the radical group renounced violence against Israel.

New information minister Yussef Rizqa accused Washington of "double standards" and "blatantly siding with Israel" regardless of the Jewish state's occupation of Palestinian land.

Rizqa was among the ministers who began their first day in office Thursday, taking over from many stalwarts of the formerly dominant Fatah faction.

Interior minister Said Siam remained silent during a handover ceremony with his predecessor, Nasr Yussef, who said security forces would remain under the authority of Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas.

"Until he says otherwise," Yussef told reporters beside a tight-lipped Siam.

Among major regional players, only the Arab League, Russia and Turkey expressed readiness to give the new government a chance.

Yet despite the international pressure, exiled Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal said his movement would continue to lead its armed struggle against Israel.

"We have no other choice but to link power with resistance. Resistance is a strategic choice," he said at a conference in Beirut.

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