Israel set to cut all ties with Palestinian Authority

JERUSALEM -- Israel's Cabinet is set to cut all ties with the Palestinian Authority, ruling out the possibility that Israel will hold peace talks with the moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to bypass the new Hamas-led government, an official said Sunday.\nIsrael's security Cabinet, a small group of top government officials, made the recommendations to the full Cabinet, which is expected to discuss and approve the measures at its meeting next Sunday, said Asaf Shariv, the government spokesman.\nIsrael already cut most ties with the Palestinian Authority after the Hamas-dominated parliament was inaugurated in February. It also has halted the transfer of $55 million in monthly tax revenues it collects for the Palestinians, dealing a debilitating blow to the cash-strapped Palestinian government.\nNext week's Cabinet vote would be a symbolic stamp of approval to the steps Israel implemented after Hamas' January election victory.\nThe Cabinet measures will include boycotting any foreign diplomats who meet with Hamas officials and cutting all ties with the Palestinian Authority, which is a "hostile entity," Shariv said.\nThe recommendations, published on the prime minister's Web site, state that "the Palestinian Authority is one authority that does not have two heads."\nShariv said that acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could still talk to Abbas, but there will be no "Hamas bypass." Peace talks will not be held with Abbas so long as Hamas does not recognize Israel, accept past peace deals and renounce violence, he said.\nIn a similar statement, Olmert was quoted in an interview with The Washington Post published Sunday as saying he would not hold peace talks with Abbas so long as Hamas does not accept Israel's demands, which are backed by the United States and the international community. Hamas has rejected the demands.\nIsrael's tough stance against Hamas has received international backing, with many countries cutting off ties with the Palestinian Authority and halting much of the aid that had flowed into the poverty-stricken West Bank and Gaza Strip.\nIsrael's army has also escalated its retaliation against militant rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel, putting pressure on Hamas, which refuses to stop the fire.\nOn Sunday, Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with artillery fire, killing a Palestinian police officer and wounding at least 16 people. It has conducted 10 air strikes and launched 900 artillery shells at northern Gaza since late Thursday, and for the first time began firing at rocket-launching sites in populated areas.\nFifteen Palestinians, including 13 militants and the child of one of the radicals, have died in Israeli attacks since Friday. No Israelis were wounded by the 10 rockets launched from Gaza into southern Israel over the \nweekend.\nOlmert said the military has a free hand to act against militants. "There are no restrictions on security forces in the event they identify danger," he said during the weekly Cabinet meeting.\nPalestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh convened an emergency Cabinet meeting to discuss the intensified attacks.\nHamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad called on the international community to push Israel to halt its attacks.\n"We are astonished by the silence of the United States and the European Union regarding the ongoing aggression," he said, though he refused to condemn the rocket attacks. "Our people have a right to resist," he said.\nHamas' military wing condemned the "dangerous escalation" and vowed revenge.\nThe police officer killed Sunday, Yasser Abu Jarad, 28, was trying to evacuate colleagues from a makeshift military post when a shell hit his car in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun and killed him, Palestinian security officials said. At least 16 people were wounded in the shelling in northern Gaza.\nThe army said it had warned Palestinian security officers posted near launching sites that they could be in danger from Israeli retaliation.\n"If the Israelis thought this policy would work with the Palestinians, they are mistaken, because violence and escalation will bring more violence and will not lead to calm," said Osama Inesu, a 39-year-old police officer.\nWhile Israel has been pressuring Hamas with military strikes, the U.S. and European Union cut off of tens of millions of dollars in desperately needed aid to the Palestinian Authority. The U.S. and EU classify Hamas as a terror group.