The Israeli Political-Security Cabinet was to meet yesterday morning to weigh its response to a unity deal struck between the Palestinian leadership and the Hamas rulers of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted angrily to Wednesday’s agreement between the rival factions, accusing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of choosing “Hamas, not peace.”
Public radio said Israeli ministers were likely to announce fresh retaliatory measures on top of a raft of financial sanctions unveiled this month when the Palestinians applied to join 15 international treaties.
Photo: AFP
However, they were not expected to order a complete halt to US-brokered peace talks with the Palestinians, despite the announcement by a Netanyahu aide of the cancelation of a scheduled meeting on Wednesday evening, it said.
Netanyahu’s office described the deal between Abbas and Hamas, which opposes all peace talks with Israel, as “very serious.”
Yet it said it was for Israeli ministers to decide whether to announce any new measures after yesterday’s meeting.
“By tying itself to Hamas, the Palestinian leadership is turning its back on peace,” an aide to Netanyahu told reporters.
Israel announced on April 10 that it was freezing the transfer of about US$111 million in taxes it collects on behalf of Abbas’ Palestinian Authority, which account for about two-thirds of its revenues.
The deal between the Palestinian leadership and Hamas came as US-brokered peace talks, which opened in July last year, teetered on the brink of collapse just days before their scheduled conclusion on Tuesday.
US Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations Martin Indyk has held repeated meetings with the two sides in a last-ditch bid to salvage the negotiations.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat denied any three-way meeting has been planned for Wednesday, but acknowledged that he would meet Indyk yesterday without the Israelis.
Abbas says he will not extend the negotiations unless Israel agrees to a freeze on all settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, and frees a group of Arab prisoners who had been earmarked for release this month.
He has also demanded the two sides launch straight into negotiations on the future borders of the Palestinians’ promised state.
Israel has dismissed all three conditions as unacceptable.
Washington said on Wednesday that the deal between the Palestinian leadership and Hamas threatened to scupper any chance of rescuing the talks.
“It’s hard to see how Israel can be expected to negotiate with a government that does not believe in its right to exist,” US Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Abbas’ writ has effectively been confined to autonomous areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank since Hamas evicted his loyalists from Gaza in 2007.
Another senior US administration official said yesterday the US would have to reconsider its assistance to the Palestinians.
“Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognition of the state of Israel and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties,” the official said, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity. “If a new Palestinian government is formed, we will assess it based on its adherence to the stipulations above, its policies and actions, and will determine any implications for our assistance based on US law.”
Hamas agreed on Wednesday to the formation of a joint administration under Abbbas’ leadership within five weeks.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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