Israel weighs punitive steps against Hamas

By Mohammed Assadi

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli defense officials
proposed on Thursday punitive measures to weaken Hamas as the
Islamic militant group prepared to assume control of the
Palestinian parliament and announce a prime minister.

A senior Hamas official in the occupied West Bank said the
movement’s newly elected legislators decided to pick Ismail
Haniyeh, a 43-year-old Hamas leader viewed by many Palestinians
as a pragmatist, to lead the next government.

Haniyeh, who had been widely expected to get the nod,
denied any final decision had been made.

“Such an important position requires consultations between
leaders in the (Palestinian) territories, in prisons and in
exile. Nothing official has been reached so far, and when a
decision is made, it will be published,” Haniyeh told Reuters.

In Tel Aviv, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and
advisers proposed a clampdown that included barring all
Palestinians from working in Israel and from traveling across
Israel between Gaza and the West Bank once the Palestinian
parliament is sworn in on Saturday, officials said.

Mofaz’s ministry also recommended that Israel squeeze the
Palestinian Authority financially by immediately stopping all
tax revenue transfers and by exerting pressure on international
donors to freeze all but humanitarian assistance.

The goal would be to undermine Hamas and increase pressure
on the Islamist militant group to renounce violence, recognize
the Jewish state and accept past interim peace deals
envisioning the creation of a Palestinian state alongside a
secure Israel.

Israeli Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert planned to hold
his own consultations on Friday to consider punitive steps
which would take effect next week if approved.

Pursuing a tough line on Hamas, which is dedicated to the
destruction of the Jewish state, could boost Olmert’s political
standing in the run-up to Israel’s March 28 general election.

Opinion polls predict his centrist Kadima party will win on
a platform of disengaging from the Palestinians.

U.S. CAUTION

In Washington, a U.S. State Department official cautioned
Israel to take into account “the consequences of any move,
especially with an eye to avoiding increasing any hardship for
Palestinians.”

“We will see what government gets formed and what its
policies are before we take decisions on our own policies,
which are under review,” the official said.

Israel has said the inaugural parliamentary session would
mark Hamas’s ascension to power within the Palestinian
Authority.

Palestinian officials said Abbas would ask Hamas on
Saturday to form a government that would respect peace deals
with Israel and put a stop to violence.

Hamas has said it expects to form its government early next
month and announce a political program that will not
necessarily be in line with Abbas’s own views — potentially
triggering a political crisis.

Israeli officials said Olmert could adopt the Defense
Ministry’s recommendations or issue an ultimatum threatening to
impose the restrictions if Hamas refuses to meet Israel’s
demands.

However, the proposed restrictions on the ability of
Palestinians to work and travel would be largely symbolic,
since only a few thousand Palestinians would be affected.

Israel has imposed strict limits on the number of workers
from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and on travel between the
territories, since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000.

(Additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller and Allyn
Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem; Wafa Amr in Ramallah and Saul Hudson
in Washington)