Hamas leader warns of new Palestinian uprising

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Apr 30 (Reuters) Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal warned Israel could face another Palestinian uprising unless conditions in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank improved.

Meshaal told the Palestinian daily al-Ayyam in an interview published today continuation of a Western economic embargo of the Palestinian government and military actions by Israel would ''give notice to a huge explosion that would not only affect the Palestinians but also the entire region, especially the Zionist entity''.

''I warn and say that I see that the current situation is heading in the direction of the conditions that prevailed in the late 1990s ... that paved the way for the al-Aqsa intifada,'' Meshaal said. ''I warn and under 'warn' I put many red lines.'' Hamas Islamists formed a unity government last month with President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction in a bid to end internal fighting and ease the year-old economic embargo.

But tensions between Hamas and Fatah remain high, particularly in the Gaza Strip, and a Western ban on direct aid to the Palestinian Authority remains in place.

The armed wing of the ruling Hamas movement broke a five-month-old Gaza ceasefire last week by firing rockets into Israel in response to the killing of nine Palestinians by Israeli forces.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday Israel would take measures to stop Palestinian militants firing rockets from the Gaza Strip or attempting to infiltrate the Jewish state.

Meshaal defended the firing of rockets saying it was a response to Israeli killing of Palestinians but told al-Ayyam he hoped a ceasefire could be expanded from Gaza to the occupied West Bank.

Western powers imposed crippling sanctions on the Palestinian Authority after the Islamist Hamas came to power in March 2006 after beating Abbas's secular Fatah faction in parliamentary elections.

Meshaal, who held talks with Abbas in Cairo on Friday, has criticised Arab countries for being slow to live up to financial commitments made to the Palestinians.

REUTERS AK SSC1318