Palestinian parliament approves Hamas government

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – A Hamas-dominated Palestinian parliament
approved the Islamic militant group’s cabinet and program on
Tuesday, clearing the way for it to take control of the
government two months after its shock election victory.

Just before the assembly voted 71 to 36 in favor of the new
government, Hamas’s prime minister-designate, Ismail Haniyeh,
vowed not to give up the fight against Israel.

“We were born from the womb of resistance, we will protect
resistance and the arm of resistance will not be touched,”
Haniyeh said one day after delivering a more conciliatory
speech where he called for a “just peace” in the region.

Hamas members in the chamber chanted “God is Greatest.”

The vote came on the day Israel held a general election
that interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was expected to win on
a platform of imposing Israel’s final borders with the
Palestinians if peacemaking remains stalled.

A Palestinian cabinet led by Hamas’s prime
minister-designate, Ismail Haniyeh, and dominated by Hamas
loyalists, was expected to be sworn in on Wednesday by
President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas, which swept Palestinian elections in January, formed
a government alone after failing to persuade the long-dominant
Fatah and other factions to join a coalition.

Hamas inherits an aid-dependent Palestinian Authority that
is on the brink of financial collapse.

A threatened cut in Western aid 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.

In presenting the cabinet for parliamentary approval on
Monday, Haniyeh sought to reach out to the West by saying his
government was ready for talks with the Quartet of Middle East
mediators on bringing a “just peace” to the region.

But the United States, grouped in the Quartet with the
European Union, Russia and the United Nations, quickly rejected
talks with Hamas unless it renounced violence, accepted interim
peace deals and recognized Israel’s right to exist.

HAMAS SLATES U.S. “BIAS”

Haniyeh said the negative response underscored what he
called the Bush administration’s “bias” against the
Palestinians.

“We urge the American administration to be more rational
and to avoid extremism in positions and to stop making
prejudgments on a government that emerged through the ballot
box,” Haniyeh said.

Israel also dismissed Haniyeh’s appeal for peace talks,
saying it saw no change of policy by the group, whose charter
calls for destroying the Jewish state.

A campaign by Israel and the United States aims to pressure
a Hamas-led government to change its policies or face economic
and diplomatic isolation.

In a recent report, the World Bank said a sharp cut in
funding from donors could push the West Bank and Gaza into a
deep economic depression. Israel has already frozen tax revenue
transfers in a bid to isolate Hamas.

As many as one in four Palestinians is dependent on wages
from the Palestinian Authority, prompting warnings from
international Middle East envoy James Wolfensohn that violence
could break out if salaries are not paid.

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