Hamas takes power, vows to keep fighting Israel

GAZA, Mar 30 (Reuters) Hamas vowed to keep fighting Israel as the militant group's government today began work, ignoring Western isolation that has brought the Palestinian Authority to the brink of financial collapse.

Hamas's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal said the Islamist movement had not changed its stance now that it was in government in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.

''We do not promise our people to turn Gaza into Hong Kong or Taiwan but we promise them a dignified and proud life behind the resistance in defence of their honour, their land and their pride,'' Meshaal said on Al Jazeera Television from Beirut.

''Our battle is only against the Zionist occupation.'' One of the first challenges for Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and his cabinet, sworn in yesterday after winning January elections, will be paying March salaries for 140,000 Palestinian Authority staff that fall due within days.

Israel, where interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is building a coalition after his Kadima party won polls this week but took less than a quarter of seats in parliament, has already withheld monthly Palestinian tax transfers of 50 million-55 million dollars.

Yesterday, the United States ordered its diplomats and contractors to have no contacts with Palestinian ministries, and Canada suspended aid to the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas is committed to Israel's destruction and has rebuffed demands from the ''Quartet'' of Middle East peace mediators to recognise the Jewish state, renounce violence and abide by peace accords or risk losing vital aid.

Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said an ''unreformed'' Hamas was not a party for dialogue.

''If through their stubbornness and short-sightedness and extremism, they isolate the Palestinian government and turn it into a pariah in the international community, they will have no one to blame but themselves,'' Regev said.

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