Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday warned that "once the (new) Palestinian parliament is sworn in, the Palestinian Authority will turn into a Hamas authority." Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Olmert told the ministers "once the Palestinian parliament is sworn in, the rules of the game will change. We won't not wink at anyone - our no is a no, and if we say yes we will mean yes."
Olmert also justified the handing over of NIS 250 million (US$ 54 million) to the Palestinian Authority last week. "Chairman (Mahmoud) Abbas is a legitimate chairman," said Olmert.
Meanwhile, Mushi al-Masri, a spokesman of Hamas, reiterated on Sunday that the Islamic Resistance Movement would never recognize the state of Israel under any circumstance. "Hamas movement would never drop its arms and would never abandon its strategy and would never forget about the manner of Jihad and resistance and would never abandon its armed wing al-Qassam Brigades," stressed al-Masri.
