Israel Threatens to Choke Off Hamas as New Government Is Sworn In

Feb. 17, 2006 — -- Even before the first new Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council take their oaths of office, the future of the assembly and the new Hamas government looks bleak.

Tomorrow 74 newly elected Hamas members will be sworn in to the Palestinian parliament. A new parliamentary speaker from Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will ask a Hamas prime minister to form the next government.

This will be the crowning moment in the astonishing electoral success of the radical Islamic faction considered by both Israel and the United States to be a terrorist organization.

But Israel insists that Hamas must first promise to renounce violence, recognize the state of Israel and honor existing agreements with the Jewish state before normal relations can even begin.

So far, Hamas has flatly refused to make any such commitments.

As a result, no member of the Palestinian parliament from Gaza will be traveling to Ramallah for tomorrow's swearing-in ceremony. Instead, a video conferencing system will link the two groups of isolated parliamentarians.

In a further response to Hamas' defiance, the Israeli government of acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is prepared to cut ties with the Palestinian administration, saying that as soon as Hamas takes over the Palestinian Authority will become a "terrorist authority".

Already the Israelis have prepared a punitive package of economic and political sanctions against the new Hamas government. The final measures will be confirmed during Sunday's weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

The basic outlines have been widely leaked and include: