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Palestinian government led by Hamas begins work | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya (L) stands next to Foreign Minister Mahmud al-Zahar (R) as they arrive to the swearing-in ceremony in Gaza City, 29 March 2006 (EPA)


Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya (L) stands next to Foreign Minister Mahmud al-Zahar (R) as they arrive to the swearing-in ceremony in Gaza City, 29 March 2006 (EPA)

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya (L) stands next to Foreign Minister Mahmud al-Zahar (R) as they arrive to the swearing-in ceremony in Gaza City, 29 March 2006 (EPA)

GAZA, (Reuters) – Hamas ministers began work on Thursday after the Palestinian militant group’s government took office, battling Western isolation and a crippling cash crunch.

One of the first challenges for Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and his cabinet, sworn in on Wednesday, will be paying March salaries for 140,000 Palestinian Authority staff that fall due within days.

Israel, where interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is building a coalition after his Kadima party won elections this week but took less than a quarter of seats in parliament, has already cut monthly tax transfers of $50-$55 million.

On Wednesday, the United States ordered its diplomats and contractors to have no contacts with Palestinian ministries and Canada suspended aid to the Palestinian Authority. Hamas took over the Palestinian government after winning January elections.

“We are surprised democratic regimes adopt the method of boycott and punishment without even sitting down with this new government,” Minister of Information Youssef Rizka told Reuters.

“This government has true intentions and the determination to face the big challenges especially on the economic front.”

The Hamas Islamists are committed to Israel’s destruction and have rebuffed demands from the “Quartet” of Middle East peace mediators to recognise the Jewish state, renounce violence and abide by peace accords or risk losing vital aid.

The Quartet — the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations — has yet to agree on mechanisms to ensure humanitarian assistance bypasses Hamas but continues to flow to the Palestinian people.

February salaries to 140,000 Palestinian Authority workers, including security personnel, were paid weeks overdue.

Asked if wages would be paid on time, normally in the first week of each month, Haniyeh said the Authority was seeking funds from Arab and Islamic countries as well as the European Union.

The Palestinian Authority relies on some $1 billion in foreign aid each year. Aid groups say a funding crisis could lead to violence in Palestinian areas, where as many as one in four people is dependent on wages from the Authority.

The government said it would also try to access a Palestinian investment fund worth some $1.3 billion and which is controlled by the office of President Mahmoud Abbas.

Olmert’s centrist Kadima party won Tuesday’s election on plans to set the Jewish state’s final borders within four years with or without agreement of its Palestinian neighbour.

In the absence of talks — improbable with Hamas in power — Olmert has vowed to draw Israel’s frontier by 2010 by removing isolated settlements in the occupied West Bank and expanding bigger ones.

Palestinians say such a move would annex land and deny the viable state they seek in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Kadima fared worse than predicted in the elections, signalling Olmert might struggle to sustain support for his plan. The party’s showing of 28 seats in the 120-member parliament was among the lowest for an election winner. But some political analysts said Olmert should be able to stitch together a coalition that would avoid the need to negotiate with right-wing parties opposed to any withdrawal from West Bank land that settlers see as a biblical birthright. A coalition is not expected to emerge for weeks.

The sweeping West Bank measures would uproot tens of thousands of settlers, far more than the 8,500 evacuated from Gaza last year. Some 240,000 Israelis live among 2.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (R) shakes hands with new Prime Minister Ismail Haniya after he swore in his Hamas government in Gaza City, 29 March 2006 (AFP)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (R) shakes hands with new Prime Minister Ismail Haniya after he swore in his Hamas government in Gaza City, 29 March 2006 (AFP)

Hamas formally took power 29 March 2006, with the Palestinian president swearing in its 24-member Cabinet, including 14 ministers who served time in Israeli prisons (AP)

Hamas formally took power 29 March 2006, with the Palestinian president swearing in its 24-member Cabinet, including 14 ministers who served time in Israeli prisons (AP)