Iran offers to finance Hamas

Iran offered to help finance the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority led by Hamas, a move that prompted an immediate warning from Israel, AFP reported.

The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, announced the offer after a meeting with Hamas political leader, Khaled Mashaal, in Tehran, state radio reported.

Larijani said the decision was taken after the United States said it won’t finance a Hamas-led government. "The United States proved that it would not support democracy when it cut its aid to the Palestinian government after Hamas won the elections. We will certainly help the Palestinians," Larijani said.

"Hamas is a genuine popular movement which has always pursued the objective of recovering the rights of the oppressed Palestinian people; but unfortunately the Americans have never paid any attention to this matter,"

The Americans‘ decision “to stop financial aid shows that they are not seeking to promote democracy in the region, contrary to their claims on the Middle East [road-map] proposal,” he added.

Asked if Israel would block the Iranian funds., Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said: "we would be entitled to use all legal means to prevent that money from reaching its destination."

Hamas says it already receives small amounts of Iranian funds. The group has said that it doesn’t want to depend on large amounts of Iranian aid because it needs to preserve its independence.

The EU and the U.S., both major donors of aid to the Palestinian Authority, classify Hamas as a “terrorist” organization. They threatened to cut aid to the PA until Hamas gave up anti-Israeli attacks and recognized Israel's right to exist, demands rejected by Hamas as “blackmail”.

Israel also decided over the weekend to withhold monthly tax and customs duties vital to the Palestinian Authority, a move described by the UN as unhelpful and premature.

Earlier this week, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, expressed support for Hamas and urged other Islamic nations to provide financial aid to the resistance movement.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also said that Hamas shouldn’t fear Western aid threats. “Since the divine treasures are infinite, you should not be concerned about economic issues," IRNA quoted him as saying.

Israel and the United States have long accused Iran of financing Hamas, but Tehran has always said that it supports the group morally.

Coalition government

In Gaza, Hamas held initial talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction, which lost January’s parliamentary elections, to discuss forming a coalition government, BBC reported.

On Tuesday, Abbas formally asked Hamas’ chosen Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya, to form the next government.

Fatah officials have initially refused to join a unity government with Hamas, but the two groups have agreed to find a common ground for a governing partnership.

"There is an agreement in principle and the intention is there, but we must await the programme," the head of Fatah's parliamentary faction, Azzam al-Ahmed, said after the talks in Gaza City.

But Ahmad said that his group won’t join Hamas if the next government refused to adopt Abbas’ vision of restarting peace talks with Israel.

Hamas, which has been observing an informal truce, has ruled out negotiations with the Jewish state.