CAIRO, Egypt – Palestinian Arab protesters and members of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade threatened to target Scandinavians yesterday in response to a political cartoon in a Danish newspaper depicting the prophet Muhammad as a suicide bomber.

Yesterday, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade sent a fax to the Swedish consul in Jerusalem, warning Danes and Swedes to exit Palestinian land within 24 hours. In Gaza, about 20 armed protesters held a demonstration in front of E.U. offices, firing their weapons in the air, and warning that harm would come to Danes and Norwegians in Gaza. Meanwhile, Hamas, the winners of last week’s Palestinian legislative elections, issued a statement urging “Islamic countries” to boycott Danish goods.

The acts of intimidation came as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas asked Chancellor Merkel of Germany to continue sending aid money to the Palestinian Authority after Mr. Abbas’s party, Fatah, was ousted from power by Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and America, and Israel. The European Union agreed yesterday not to halt funding immediately and said it would send portions of its more than $500 million in annual aid to Mr. Abbas. However, a statement released yesterday by the Quartet, which includes America, Europe, Russia, and the United Nations, implied international aid to the Palestinian regime would be cut off if Hamas did not recognize Israel and disarm before the new government was formed. Hamas leaders in Gaza and Damascus have in recent days pledged to keep its arms and never recognize Israel.

The Danish government has refused to apologize for the cartoon, which was originally published in September by Jyllands-Posten and was reprinted in a Norwegian magazine earlier this month. Copenhagen has insisted that the political retribution from Arab capitals and threats from the Palestinian Arab groups imperil freedom of speech.

So far, Denmark’s E.U. colleagues have agreed. Yesterday E.U. foreign ministers in Brussels issued a statement rejecting the threats, the proposed boycott of Danish products, and the decisions of Libya and Saudi Arabia to recall their ambassadors. The French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, said yesterday, “You can never put question marks around the freedom of speech in any European country, and therefore we have all declared our solidarity with the Danes.”

The spat over the Danish political cartoon may indirectly have influenced how the great powers will fund a Palestinian Authority that includes Hamas. The latest threats come after aid workers have been kidnapped in Gaza and the climate in the territory evacuated by Israel last summer turns to chaos.

Mr. Abbas said yesterday his regime was on the verge of bankruptcy, raising the prospect that salaries for policemen and teachers would not be paid next month. His finance minister said the statelet would run out of fuel and money by February 2. The top diplomat for the European Union, Javier Solana, yesterday said the Quartet conditions must be met before aid was disbursed to a new government.

In the midst of the repercussions from the Hamas victory, Israel has continued with a plan to evacuate nine Jewish families from homes at a converted Palestinian Arab market in the West Bank city of Hebron. The evacuation may be a preview of future plans from the interim government led by Israel’s acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert, to continue with withdrawals from some settlements in the West Bank not clustered around Jerusalem.

The Jewish state says the settlements were illegal outposts, but the settlers have said they purchased the land legally from Palestinian Arabs. Yesterday, the Israeli general in charge of the withdrawal denied any deal was made to compensate the families with new settlements.