GAZA CITY, 19 April 2006 — Israel yesterday decided to revoke the Jerusalem residency rights of three Hamas lawmakers. The Israeli move was in response to Monday’s Tel Aviv bombing that killed nine people. The bombing was carried out by Islamic Jihad, but Hamas, which runs the new Palestinian government, defended the attack as a justified response to Israeli military strikes.
Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and key Cabinet ministers decided to hold Hamas responsible for the attack. In one of a list of measures, all Hamas lawmakers who live in Jerusalem will have their residency rights in the city revoked. Three Hamas lawmakers have Jerusalem residence permits.
Ahmed Atoun, one of the three affected lawmakers, said it would not prevent him from going home. “If they want to detain me, let them. They can’t take me away from my house,” he said, criticizing the decision as a violation of international law. “This is an unfair, criminal decision that I won’t abide by.”
Atoun said he would use all legal means to appeal the decision. The Israeli Supreme Court has overturned government measures against Palestinians in the past.
Japan said it might halt aid to the Palestinian Authority if Hamas supported violence. Japan will look at Hamas’ future actions on the Middle East peace process to determine whether to commit further aid, Foreign Ministry Assistant Press Secretary Akira Chiba said in Tokyo.
But he said Japan has not decided whether to freeze assistance, as the United States and European Union have done. “We have to watch the situation,” Chiba said, adding that Japan will continue to provide humanitarian assistance.
Japan has provided $840 million to the Palestinians in grants, technical assistance and other aid through international organizations since the launch of the Oslo peace process in 1993.
Hamas remained defiant. Yesterday, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli actions had triggered Monday’s attack. “The reason behind this cycle is the continuation of the occupation and the continued Israeli assaults against the Palestinian people,” Haniyeh said before a routine Cabinet meeting.
And Palestinian hard-line groups demanded an apology from President Mahmoud Abbas for condemning the Tel Aviv attack.
The criticism, including from armed groups within the president’s own Fatah party, underscored a growing debate among Palestinians over the use of violence against Israel. “We ask President Abbas to apologize to the entire Palestinian people because of the offense he committed,” the groups said in a joint statement.
— Additional input from agencies
