Olmert: Hamas-Led Government Will be 'Terrorist Authority'.

By VOA News

Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the Palestinian Authority is becoming a "terrorist authority" now that Hamas has taken control of the Palestinian parliament.

Olmert's comments, his harshest public statements yet on Hamas' election victory last month,

Olmert said Israel would have no contact with the Palestinian government and urged the international community to isolate the Hamas-led government. Israel's Cabinet also decided to stop $50 million per month of customs payments to the Palestinians.

The Cabinet urged the United States and Europe to follow suit and cut off nearly $1 billion in annual aid to the Palestinian Authority. But the Cabinet rejected some more drastic proposals, including a ban on the travel of Palestinians through Israeli territory.

The Cabinet did not accept recommendations by the Defense Ministry to bar thousands of Palestinian workers and restrict the flow of goods from Gaza into Israel. "Israel will do nothing to impede humanitarian support for the Palestinian people," said Israeli spokesman Mark Regev.

Saturday, 74 members of Hamas were sworn in as lawmakers in the 132-seat Palestinian Legislative Council. Afterwards, Hamas said it would not abide by previously signed agreements recognizing Israel's right to exist, despite a call to do so by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas' designated prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, said Israel's sanctions are designed to break the will of the Palestinian people following his group's overwhelming election victory.

Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist and has claimed responsibility in the past for dozens of suicide bombing attacks against Israeli targets.

Meanwhile, Palestinian officials said two members of the militant Popular Resistance Committees were killed in an Israeli air strike on the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli army officials said the two men were trying to plant a bomb close to a security fence that separates Gaza from Israel.