Trouble with old index.html file

I’m migrating over from Blogger, which uses index.html. Everything installed fine and I updated my .htaccess file so that any link going straight to the directory goes to my WP’s index.php. However, I’d like to keep an index.html file that states “This blog has moved to index.php” for an old incoming links that listed the .html file.

I find that if keep this dummy index.html file, none of my default WP permalinks work (they all visit the .html file). Is there a way around this or is there no way the two can co-exist happily?