Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said on Friday some European states had decided to resume aid to the Palestinian government. "Some European countries have decided on an annual support sum for the Palestinian government and have been in contact with Palestinian officials," the Hamas politburo chief told a news conference in Cairo.
"The blockade is a crime, in the past as it is today," Meshaal said, according to AFP. "It is unjustifiable. But after the Mecca accord, and after the formation of a unity government, it must not continue for another instant."
He also dismissed comments by an Israeli government spokesman on Friday who reiterated the Jewish state's position that no one should have dealings with Hamas. Meshaal said: "Neither Arabs nor Muslims are concerned by the Israeli fatwa and I think that the international community, for whom Israel has become a burden, will not pay attention either."
Meshaal also blamed Israel for holding up negotiations to exchange a captured Israeli soldier for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. "The ball is in the Israeli leaders' court. They are the ones who are getting in the way of the exchange."
