Haniyeh warns of PA embargo

Source: Alalam.ir, 30-3-2007
GAZA--Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh issued a vague warning on Friday that Hamas would reassess its options if economic sanctions are not lifted on the Palestinian unity government within two to three months.
Haniyeh did not say what the Islamic group would do if his timeline was not met, but a top aide, Ghazi Hamad, said dissolving the unity government was not an option.
"We have given what we were required," Haniyeh told Gaza worshippers before prayers. "We have made a unity government and a political program based on common grounds and now what is needed is to lift the siege."
"If the siege continues for two to three more months, we will study our options... And we will take a decision that will protect our dignity and will protect our interests," Haniyeh said without elaborating.
Haniyeh issued the vague warning three times in his first speech after attending a summit in Saudi Arabia in which Arab leaders relaunched a 2002 plan for settlement with the Zionist regime.
At the Riyadh summit, Saudi Arabia`s King Abdullah called for ending the international blockade on the Palestinian government and Arab states pledged $55 million a month in financial support.
But it is unclear how much of that money will materialize. A Western ban on direct aid to the government remains in place, the Zionist regime continues to withhold Palestinian tax revenues, and banks have so far refused to transfer the government`s funds.
At the Riyadh summit, Arab leaders renewed a plan that offers the Zionist regime normal ties with all Arab countries in return for withdrawal from land seized in the 1967 Middle East war, the creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinians displaced in 1948 with occupation "Israel"i regime creation.
In Friday`s speech, Haniyeh said Hamas will never recognize the Zionist regime.
Haniyeh made clear Hamas was willing "in this stage" to accept a state in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and East Al-Quds. But Hamas remains committed to establishment of a Muslim state in all of British-mandated Palestine, including what is now "Israel".
The Zionist regime`s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a newspaper interview published on Friday that the right of return is "out of the question" for the Zionist regime.