Hamas to learn the price of being a begger entity

Scotsman:

ISRAEL could plunge the Palestinian Authority into a financial crisis by withholding its main source of income, following the election victory by the militant group Hamas, Israeli officials warned yesterday.

Israel, which called on the international community to boycott a Hamas-led government, transfers about £28 million every month of customs duties and VAT to the authority, which covers the salaries of a majority of its 130,000 employees.

But the Israeli finance ministry director-general, Yossi Bachar, said that Israel may now face "practical problems" in passing on the money because of Hamas's stated aim of overthrowing the state of Israel and its track record of terrorism. The first payment is due next week.

The financial cost of Hamas's landslide victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections on Wednesday is likely to become even worse, with a senior United States diplomat yesterday warning that America would have to freeze millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) if a Hamas-led government refuses to renounce terror.

The US gave the PA more than £220 million in direct aid last year and several million more through various UN charities. Without Western aid, the bankrupt Palestinian Authority, which had a £565 million operating deficit last year, would almost certainly collapse.

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