Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni warned, on Wednesday, European leaders against transferring funds to a Palestinian government led by the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, and claimed that the movement is “a terrorist threat” to the area.Livni started her European tour by visiting Vienna for talks with Austrian leaders.
She told reporters that there is no guarantee that Hamas will not use the money to finance its armed wings and harm Israel.
“The world should fight terrorists, not welcome them”, Livni said, “This is part of the European legislation, Israeli legislation, United States legislation”.
Livni also said that the Palestinians should understand that the international community “cannot tolerate a terrorist organization” even if it won the elections.
The European Union is one of the major donors to the Palestinian Authority. It announced on Monday that it will provide US$143 million in emergency assistance to the current caretaker Palestinian government.
The EU did not officialy announce a clear stance on support for the P.A after Hamas takes office.
Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the EU’s
rotating presidency, said that decision to support the P.A was necessary to cover basic needs.
“We want to improve the humanitarian situation of the Palestinian people”, Plassnik told Livni after their meeting.
