Palestinian president swears in Hamas government

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore
in a Hamas government on Wednesday, handing the Islamic
militant group an administration on the brink of financial
collapse and fighting Western isolation.

The ceremony came a day after the centrist Kadima Party of
interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert won Israel’s elections on a
platform of imposing the Jewish state’s final borders with the
Palestinians by dismantling remote settlements in the West
Bank.

The 24-member Palestinian cabinet is dominated by Hamas
loyalists after other factions including Abbas’s long-dominant
Fatah movement refused to join following the militant group’s
shock victory in elections in January.

Ministers swore an oath on the Koran against the backdrop
of portraits of Abbas and late leader Yasser Arafat.

Those in the West Bank city of Ramallah took part in the
ceremony by video-link to Gaza, where Abbas presided over the
swearing-in, because of Israeli travel curbs on Hamas
officials.

The United States ordered its diplomats and contractors not
to have any contacts with Palestinian ministries once the
government was sworn in, U.S. officials said.

The directive, distributed to U.S. officials in the region
by email, bars them from having contacts with Hamas-appointed
government ministers, whether they are members of Hamas or not,
as well as with those who work for them, U.S. officials said.

Contacts will still be permitted with Abbas, his personal
office and non-Hamas members of the Palestinian parliament.

The United States hopes to sideline Hamas and pressure it
to recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by peace
accords. Hamas is branded a terrorist organization by
Washington.

Washington’s partners in the “Quartet” of Middle East
mediators — the European Union, Russia and the United Nations
– have also said Hamas must reform or risk losing aid to the
Palestinian Authority.

Hamas has said talks with Israel would be a waste of time
and has stepped up rhetoric against the Jewish state since
Ismail Haniyeh, the new prime minister, made a conciliatory
speech to parliament on Monday.

The group is committed to Israel’s destruction.

Threatened aid cuts could make it more difficult for Hamas
to pay the salaries of an estimated 140,000 Palestinian
Authority workers, including security personnel. Aid groups say
a funding crisis could lead to chaos and violence.

The Palestinian Authority relies on more than $1 billion in
foreign aid each year.

Hamas has carried out nearly 60 suicide bombings against
Israelis since 2000, but has largely abided by a year-old
truce.