FINANCIAL PLEDGES

Meshaal said he had secured pledges for financial support during his tour and that Arab countries would agree to beef up allocations to Palestinians in a summit in Sudan next week. 

Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal talks during an interview with Reuters in Abu Dhabi March 21, 2006. Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal said on Wednesday the Palestinian militant group will continue to fight Israel and told the United States that its Middle East policy would fuel terrorism. [Reuters]

"I believe that the Arab countries will agree in the Khartoum summit the level of (financial) aid they will offer the Palestinian people," he said.

"So far there has been good commitment that needs to be translated into figures... I am sure that Arab and Islamic support will cover a large part of the Palestinians' needs. No matter what Israel does and how much pressure the United States applies, I do not think Arabs and Muslims will cave."

Iran has said it will meet any gap in official funding for a new government once it is formed by Hamas in coming weeks.

But Meshaal said the Palestinian people could face a "catastrophe" if fellow Arabs did not also chip in.

Israel has already cut off monthly payments of tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

Meshaal said Hamas would not be bowed by the pressure.

"We are not isolated. We are a movement that enjoys the confidence of its people and has the capability to meet all its obligations," he said. "We have succeeded in the past and we will succeed in the present and the future, God willing. Those who bet that we will lose are deluded."