"The Ayatollah's regime will have a major role in Palestine,"
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who is based in Syria, said on
Tuesday in a meeting in Teheran with the Iranian Foreign
Minister. "We trust Iran to help us deal with the challenges
facing us today."
Mashaal was visiting Iran after a tour of Arab and Muslim
countries in an attempt to get financial and political
support for a new Hamas government. He also met previously
with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and religious
leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran is seen by the West as a threat to world security with
its program of developing nuclear weapons. The Palestinian
people have always celebrated Iranian success, but now the
friendly relationship will be out in the open.
The announcement makes it clear that the Palestinian
Authority (PA) has chosen to follow a path that puts it in
open conflict with the West, and does not pursue cooperation
with it. Up until now the PA has officially pursued a policy
of cooperation with Western democracies and has won extensive
economic assistance from them. Billions were sent over the
past decade, but most was wasted and skimmed off by corrupt
officials.
The open rejection of the West seems to have caught European
and American officials by surprise, as they are still
debating if and when to restrict financial aid to the PA. If
the PA moves into the category of Iran, the debate will be
quite different. The West has been discussing whether to
invade or just to apply economic sanctions to Iran as it
defiantly develops a nuclear weapon and releases aggressive
statements about the need to wipe Israel off the map.
At the weekly Israeli Cabinet meeting last Sunday, Acting
Prime Minister Olmert made the following remarks with regard
to the installation of the Palestinian Legislative Council
that is now dominated by Hamas: "From Israel's point-of-view,
a new situation has been created. Israel has defined
threshold conditions for holding contacts with Palestinians
in the Hamas administration . . . Israel has proven that it
is interested in acting on behalf of regional peace and
stability. The disengagement is a main example of this, at
the base of which lies the desire to have here two states for
two peoples living side-by-side in stability, security, and
peace.
"It is clear that in light of the Hamas majority in the PLC
and the instructions to form a new government that were given
to the head of Hamas, the PA is — in practice —
becoming a terrorist authority. The State of Israel will not
agree to this. Israel will not compromise with terrorism and
will continue to fight it with full force. However, there is
no intention of harming the humanitarian needs of the
Palestinian population. Israel will not hold contacts with
the administration in which Hamas plays any part —
small, large, or permanent.
"From our point-of-view, the swearing-in of the PLC means
that Hamas has — in effect — taken control of the
PA. . . . ties with the PA [will be] downgraded, unless Hamas
fully accepts the principles that the international community
has presented to it: Recognition of the State of Israel and
abrogation of the Hamas Covenant, the renunciation of
terrorism and the dismantling of terrorist infrastructures
(by adopting the Roadmap and accepting its principles), and
recognizing all understandings and agreements between Israel
and the Palestinians. . . .
"In any case, Israel has no intention of bringing about the
collapse of civil frameworks and creating a humanitarian
crisis in the PA."
The cabinet decided that upon the formation of the
transitional government, no funds will be transferred from
Israel to the PA; the movement of VIPs connected to Hamas,
including members of the PLC, will continue to be restricted
in all areas under Israeli control; security checks at
crossings will be increased, regarding both people and
goods.
Construction of the security fence will continue. The cabinet
also said that all measures necessary to thwart acts of
terrorism against Israel will continue, both in the Gaza
Strip and in the West Bank.
Israel will also act immediately to prevent any further
upgrading of the capabilities of the PA's security mechanisms
by denying entry to military equipment — jeeps, command
cars, radios and armored cars — that various countries
wish to donate to the PA. For now, however, there will be no
change in routine cooperation in the field with the
Palestinian security mechanisms.
This week Israel took a number of active steps against
terror. On 16 February 2006, customs authorities at Ashdod
port seized 31 containers of goods, worth millions of
dollars, which were imported by the Fayez Abu Amar Company in
the Gaza Strip. The company has systematically and
continuously assisted Hamas and Islamic Jihad by laundering
and transferring funds from overseas to local operatives
under the guise of commercial activity. The company also
cooperated with illegal Hamas funds abroad and with various
associations in Judea, Samaria and Gaza that have been banned
by Israel.
The IDF also mounted a major anti-terrorist operation in the
Shechem area including the nearby Balata refugee camp. One
senior terrorist was killed resisting arrest and more than a
dozen were arrested by Tuesday, as the operation continued. A
major bomb factory was found in the casbah area of Shechem.
The factory held dozens of kilograms of materials used in the
production of explosives.
