RIYADH, 11 March 2006 — A five-member delegation of Hamas leaders arrived in the Kingdom yesterday. The delegation is headed by the group’s Politburo chief, Khaled Meshaal, and its members are expected to discuss with the Kingdom’s leadership the financial problems an incoming Palestinian government faces, Hamas official Ezzat El-Resheq said.
The Hamas leaders are on a tour of Arab countries hoping to garner support from traditional allies. The Palestinian Administration under a Hamas leadership faces the possibility of losing Western financial support because the group does not recognize the state of Israel.
Hamas won elections in January. They are in the process of forming a new government.
This is the first official visit by a Hamas delegation to the Kingdom since 1998.
Hamas’ prime minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh, who Israeli interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday could be a target of assassination, is not part of the delegation. Resheq condemned a statement by Olmert on Thursday, promising to settle Israel’s borders unilaterally by 2010, including land in East Jerusalem and the West Bank which Israel has occupied since 1967, if his Kadima party wins elections this month.
“This is an escalation. It’s no surprise to us in that all their efforts are directed toward changing facts on the ground,” Resheq was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying, referring to a wall Israel is building mainly on Palestinian land seized in 1967. “But it would not change the fact that an occupation is an occupation.”
“Hamas appreciates the Saudi position that always supported the Palestinian people,” Mohammad Nazzal, a Hamas leader in exile, said Thursday. “We will seek the continuation of political and financial support from our brothers in Saudi Arabia.”
Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal publicly spurned a US call to isolate Hamas during a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last month.
Haniyeh said in comments published Thursday that the delegation would also ask Saudi Arabia to help formulate a positive Arab position toward the group during an Arab summit to be held in Khartoum later this month.
Earlier yesterday, the European Union threatened to cut off aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian government “unless it seeks peace by peaceful means.”
The EU foreign ministers reviewed financial aid to Palestinians, but announced no immediate halt to funds as long as Hamas has not formed a government. It is expected to do so later this month.
“We want to remain a reliable partner for the Palestinian people, but we will not go soft on our principles,” EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said. “Money will not flow to the new (Palestinian) Authority unless it seeks peace by peaceful means.”
Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, who chaired a meeting of EU foreign ministers, said a Hamas-led government must show it will recognize Israel and work for peace in the Middle East. “Any EU assistance for terrorism is totally excluded. It is up to the new (Palestinian) government to respond to our message,” she added.
— Additional input from agencies
