Reply #5: Hamas accuses West of playing politics with aid [View All]

Hamas accuses West of playing politics with aid by Adel Zaanoun
26 minutes ago



GAZA CITY (AFP) - The Islamists of Hamas accused the West on Tuesday of playing politics with Palestinian aid after it resumed assistance to the government in the West Bank while their Gaza bastion remains under Israeli blockade.

The United States and Europe restored direct aid to the Palestinians on Monday in a show of support for president Mahmud Abbas, who set up an emergency government when his Hamas rivals seized power in Gaza last week after days of brutal bloodletting.

"By announcing their political and financial support for the Palestinian Authority, the West is backing an illegimate government," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.

EU and US support for the government of prime minister Salam Fayyad was "an attempt to manipulate the Palestinian people and distance it from Hamas," he charged, adding that the strategy would not work.

Hamas's seizure of Gaza after vicious street battles with loyalists of Abbas's secular Fatah faction that left more than 110 people dead has driven a deep wedge in Palestinian society.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070619/wl_afp/mideast_070619114849;_ylt=AtR2KhFDn8SDmqZYqtN0DTuQOrgF