Palestinian Parliament OKs Hamas Cabinet

AP on Yahoo ^ | 3/28/06 | Sarah El Deeb - ap

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The Palestinian parliament overwhelming approved the Hamas Cabinet on Tuesday, setting the stage for the new administration to take office amid threats by Western nations to cut off aid if the Islamic militant group doesn't change its violent ways.

Hamas legislators broke into chants of "God is great" immediately after the 71-36 vote in favor of the new Cabinet. Two parliamentarians abstained.

Lawmakers in Gaza City swarmed Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh to congratulate him. The Gaza session was hooked up via video link to a simultaneous session in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where members of the incoming Cabinet lined up to receive congratulatory kisses from the lawmakers.

An Israel travel ban between Gaza and the West Bank prevents the whole legislature from meeting in one place.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate from the rival Fatah Party, was expected to swear in the 25 ministers on Wednesday, incoming Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Ashaer said. Western countries have threatened to cut off aid to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority once the Hamas Cabinet is sworn in.

After the vote, Haniyeh went to the house of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the Hamas spiritual leader who was assassinated in 2004, to pray with other Hamas leaders.

The Palestinian parliament met as Israelis voted Tuesday in a historic election billed as a referendum on the future of the West Bank. The leading candidate, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, has promised to pull back from most of the territory and draw Israel's final borders by 2010.

Haniyeh said he rejected Olmert's plan.

"We said from the beginning that any Israeli step that will impose facts on the ground or undermine Palestinian rights, such as creating so-called temporary borders, is rejected and unacceptable policy," he said.

He said the Palestinians retained the right to resist Israel's occupation, but suggested that he was not interested in perpetuating the cycle of violence with Israel.

"We're not calling for conflict or the continuation of the bloodbath in this region. We are a government that looks out for the interests of the Palestinian people," he said. He added that he intended to push for an independent Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in what is now Israel.

Those demands are far more moderate than Hamas' traditional call to replace Israel with an Islamic state. However, the group, which won Jan. 25 elections in a landslide, has stopped far short of accepting demands by the international community to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist.

Hamas is listed as a terror group by the United States and European Union. The new Palestinian government was expected to face increasing international isolation because of its hardline views.

Western nations have threatened to cut off crucial aid to the government and Israel already stopped transferring the roughly $50 million it collects in taxes on behalf of the Palestinians. A cut off in the aid and tax transfers would plunge the Palestinian Authority into a deep financial crisis.

In an effort to allay Western concerns that their money could go to attacks on Israel, Hamas officials have invited donor nations to set up stringent monitoring systems to ensure the aid arrives at its intended destination.

Hamas also said it hoped to find new sources of aid from Arab and Islamic states, and Haniyeh said the new government planned an upcoming tour of Arab countries "to secure aid for the Palestinian people and the government and the authority."

Incoming Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar said he planned his first trips abroad to Egypt, China and South Africa.

Ashaer said the Cabinet, which is split between the West Bank and Gaza, would initially meet via video conference, but the Palestinian Authority would continue to demand that Israel let the ministers travel between the territories to meet.

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Incoming Hamas Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is surrounded by journalists, as he arrives for a parliament session to present his cabinet and government agenda for approval, in Gaza City, Tuesday, March 28, 2006. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

Mohammed Abu Tir (L), newly elected Palestinian parliament member of the Islamic militant group Hamas, hugs a fellow member of parliament in the West Bank city of Ramallah March 28, 2006. Hamas called for talks with Western powers to try to reach a 'just peace' in the Middle East but showed no sign of softening its stance on Israel as it presented its government to the Palestinian parliament. REUTERS/Loay Abu Haykel

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An armed militant of the Damascus-based Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine tries to burn an Israeli flag by blowing fire from his mouth during a sit-in, in the Ein-el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, near the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 28, 2006, to draw attention of Arab leaders currently meeting in Sudan to Palestinian rights. Arab leaders opened their annual summit Tuesday with generous praise for January's Palestinian elections and insistence that they be directly involved in helping to shape the future of Iraq. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

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