RIYADH,
March 6, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – French
President Jacques Chirac said Monday, March 6, he was
"hostile" to slapping international sanctions on the
Palestinian Authority after Hamas's landslide election victory.
"I
know well that there some who envisage sanctions. For my part, I am
hostile to sanctions in general and in this case in particular...
basically the Palestinian people would bear the brunt of it," he
told a news conference in Saudi Arabia, reported Reuters.
Hamas
has swept the Palestinian legislative elections, winning 74 of the
132-seat legislature, against 45 for Fatah.
Benita
Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's head of external relations, said on Monday,
March 6, that the 25-nation bloc would stop payments to the
cash-strapped Palestinian Authority once Hamas takes power.
The
US and the EU have threatened to cut off aid to the Palestinian
Authority unless the resistance group disarms, "renounces
violence" and recognizes Israel.
Israel
has frozen the monthly transfers of tax revenues it collects on behalf
of the PA, worth around $50 million.
Former
US president Jimmy Carter has cautioned the United States and Israel
against punishing the Palestinian people for electing Hamas.
On
Monday, February 27, international envoy James Wolfensohn has recently
warned that the PA risks a financial collapse within two weeks.
The
PA is dependent on foreign aid and on tax revenues collected by Israel
on its behalf to pay its 140,000 employees and keep its ministries and
institutions functioning.
Not
Worried
 |
|
Meshaal said Hamas was not worried by Western threats to cut funding to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority. (Reuters)
|
Chirac
did not explain how France would stop funding the PA but maintain aid
to the Palestinians.
"I
hope the discussions with Hamas that some parties have begun can lead
to this positive result. To be honest, I don't doubt it will, since
Hamas has to assume its responsibilities," said the French
leader, currently on a three-day state visit to the kingdom.
France
is often seen by many Arabs as supporting Arab causes, as opposed to
the US which is always accused of biased towards Israel.
Hamas
reiterated it was not worried by Western threats to cut funding to the
PA.
"Unfortunately
all the parties trying to impose conditions on us want to swap the
rights of our people for money and this will not happen," Khaled
Meshaal, the group's politburo leader, said Tuesday.
He
said the group was confident of getting the needed funds from Arab and
Islamic countries.
A
Hamas delegation last week visited Russia, the group's first trip to a
major foreign power, in the hope of gaining some international
standing.
The
Arab League vowed on Saturday, March 4, support for Hamas, blasting
"unjust conditions" on the Palestinians.
During
a recent Mideast trip, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice failed
to mobilize support for isolating the Hamas-led government and deny
aid and support to the PA.
Khalil
Abu Lila, a senior Hamas leader, told IslamOnline.net on Saturday,
February 25, the group has received generous aid pledges at the
grassroots and state levels in the Muslim world, double the aid which
the US, the EU and others are threatening to cut off.
