But the leader of the militant Islamist movement, which won a landslide victory in last month's general elections, said that resistance would continue unless Israel ceased "aggression" toward Palestinian territory.
Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz threatened to cut all contacts with the PA if parliament is headed by Hamas leaders.
"If the Palestinians choose a parliament speaker and prime minister who are affiliated with Hamas, Israel will immediately sever all contact with the PA," Mofaz told the top-selling Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
The hawkish Mofaz has taken an even harder line than Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who has said that he wants to work with moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, not a member of Hamas.
"We refuse to have any contacts with any decision-making body that is headed by Hamas," a top-ranking official from the prime minister's office said.
"This means there will be no transfer of funds [to the PA] and no travel permission for such officials," the source said on condition of anonymity.
Nevertheless, Israeli authorities did release after five months in custody a newly elected Hamas MP, Ahmed Ali Ahmed, who won the most number of votes of all six representatives elected in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
Hamas, which has orchestrated dozens of suicide attacks in Israel, is widely expected to choose two of its senior members as both premier and speaker at inauguration ceremonies on Saturday.
Olmert, who is standing in for stricken Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, also stressed late on Tuesday that Israel would have no dealings with Hamas unless it committed itself to non-violence and recognized Israel's right to exist.
"Israel will not, under any circumstances, negotiate with a terror organization whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel," Olmert told an American-Jewish conference in Jerusalem.
Mofaz added that he did not expect any such change of heart and Israel had to therefore show no compromise.
"From my standpoint, it does not look like Hamas intends to give up its ideology regarding Israel's destruction, and it does not intend to recognize" Israel, added Mofaz.
Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal has, however, set forth conditions of his own, saying that Middle East peace could be achieved if Israel ended its aggression and occupation of the Palestinian territories.
"I want to tell the United States, the international community and all those who speak about peace that ... the shortest way for this is that they should work for halting the Israeli aggression and occupation of the Palestinian territories," Meshaal said on Tuesday during a visit to Khartoum.
"Otherwise, resistance and steadfastness will continue to be the only option before the movement [Hamas]," he warned during the trip, part of a tour of Muslim countries aimed at mustering support for his movement.
The major players in the peace process, including the United States and European Union, have threatened to cut funding to the PA in the absence of any such commitment from Hamas.
Meshaal, once the target of an assassination bid by Israel, described as "unjustified" the position assumed by the West toward Hamas' victory.
Top Israeli and Palestinian leaders have not met for many months, but meetings at a lower level have continued to take place regularly.
© 2006 Agence France-Presse
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