GAZA CITY, 9 February 2006 — Despite global pressure to cut aid to any government run by Hamas, the Palestinian group.said yesterday it would not bow to pressure to recognize Israel.

“Hamas does not recognize Israel and we won’t accept anybody in the world forcing us into a corner,” Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal told journalists in Cairo.

Meshaal also warned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to institute changes in government without getting its approval. Palestinian and Israeli media have reported that Abbas, leader of the Fatah party, was considering putting more of the Palestinians’ powerful security apparatus under his control.

Meshaal, in Egypt for talks involving Hamas leaders from the Palestinian territories and those in exile on forming a government, said he expected Arab funding for the Palestinians and the new government to be arranged “in the coming days.”

He gave no details on any possible government beyond saying talks were continuing.

“If the door of the West is closed, the door of the Arab and Islamic east should stay open,” Meshaal told reporters in Cairo in reference to aid. “We have heard good promises and excellent commitment (from Arab and Islamic states),” he said.

Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Sulaiman has predicted Iran might fill any finance gap if the European Union and United States cut aid to a government led by Hamas, which swept Palestinian elections last month. The European Union and United States want Hamas to renounce violence and abandon its commitment to Israel’s destruction.

Hamas is trying to form a coalition government including the defeated Fatah faction, which long dominated Palestinian politics. Islamic Jihad yesterday ruled out joining the new government.

Fatah has yet to tell Hamas whether it will take part. A Hamas leader said on Tuesday he expected a Hamas member to be prime minister. The Hamas leaders discussed the new government with Egyptian officials, who have played a frequent role in brokering talks between Palestinian factions. Yesterday was the last day of the Hamas leader’s visit.

Meshaal said Hamas was still talking to all factions. “There is still time to reach understanding with these forces.”

Mahmoud Abbas has said he would expect the future government to respect interim peace deals with Israel.

Hamas’ charter calls for Israel’s destruction but the group has largely abided by a cease-fire Abbas declared with Israel a year ago.

In a BBC interview, Meshaal said Hamas “could possibly give a long-term truce” but only if Israel withdrew from the occupied West Bank, recognized a right of return for Palestinian refugees and dismantled all settlements.

In Cairo, Meshaal said: “Some think Hamas is offering a long-term truce and we’ll wait to see what Israel will do and beg it to give us our rights. This is not on the table.” “Let Israel make an offer, let it recognize our rights and it’s up to the international community to oblige it to do that.” Hamas, which led a campaign of attacks against Israeli targets during the Palestinian uprising, would not stop “resistance,” Meshaal said.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian leadership rejected yesterday a plan by acting Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert to withdraw from most of the West Bank, but hold on to key settlement blocs, East Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.

“Israel must abandon its policy of unilateralism,” chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. Olmert, 60, hinted at a withdrawal from part of the West Bank similar to Israel’s unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip last summer, if his centrist Kadima party won next month’s elections.

— With input from agencies