 The political leader of Hamas has rejected the European Union's warning to halt aid to the Palestinian Authority if the movement wins next month's parliamentary elections but fails to renounce violence.
| "Piss off. Youse got nuttin'!" |
Khalid Mishaal dismissed the EU's move as "a flagrant interference" in the Palestinians' internal affairs and urged the Palestinian Authority not to bow to EU pressure.
| Not giving them any more money would be a "flagrant interference," too... |
Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, said on Sunday that European taxpayers would have a hard time supporting the Palestinian Authority if it included a party that supports violence and advocates Israel's destruction. "It would be very difficult for the help and the money that goes to the Palestinian Authority to continue to flow," Solana told reporters in Tel Aviv. Mishaal told The Associated Press the EU's stand "harms its advocates and the European stand more than it can harm Hamas".
| "We don't need your money!" |
"So long as people have opted for democracy, they should respect its results and should not confiscate the right of the Palestinian people to choose [their leaders]," Mishaal said.
| ... no matter how many people they want to kill... |
He added that the Palestinian people would not accept "such a flagrant intervention" in their internal affairs and would not bow to "such pressures". The Palestinians receive about $1 billion a year in international aid - about half the Palestinian Authority's budget - and EU assistance is slated to reach $312 million in 2006. |