GAZA CITY, 11 February 2007 – An aide to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said yesterday that the Palestinian unity government to be formed following the Makkah accord between Fatah and Hamas factions will not recognize Israel.
Ahmed Youssef, Haniyeh’s political adviser, said the unity government would “respect” previous Palestinian peace accords with Israel but would not be committed to them, nor to recognizing the Jewish state.
“The issue of recognition was not addressed at all (in Makkah),” Youssef said. “In the platform of the new government there will be no sign of recognition (of Israel), regardless of the pressures the United States and the Quartet would exert.” The Quartet – the United States, Russia, European Union, and the United Nations – repeated its conditions on Friday for a resumption of aid, but withheld judgment on whether the new government met those conditions.
Youssef said a continuation of the aid boycott imposed after Hamas trounced Fatah in elections last year could lead to more violence in Palestinian territories.
Youssef said the Quartet was due to meet again on Feb. 21, by which time Haniyeh planned to announce his new government “so it can be the first step to end the siege of the Palestinian people.”
He said Saudi Arabia, which hosted the Makkah talks, had promised to work for an end to the boycott and he hoped that would persuade the Quartet to lift the embargo.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday telephoned Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to congratulate him on the success of his efforts to reconcile the Palestinian groups. Ban welcomed the peace accord between the Palestinians and promised that he would follow up its outcome for the benefit of Palestinians as well as the region.
The United States gave a cautious response to the agreement, saying it needed more time to study it. Russia welcomed the accord and appealed for a lifting of the freeze on direct aid to the Palestinian government. France said the international community should back the new government, but some of its European Union partners were more muted.
In another development, the Arab League yesterday condemned Israeli works near the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem as a “criminal attack” on Islam’s third holiest site and urged the international community to act.
“The Arab League calls on the United Nations to hold an urgent meeting of the Security Council to take up its responsibility to end these dangerous violations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” the league said.
It also appealed to the Quartet to step in. “We ask the members of the Quartet to assume their responsibility and pressure Israel to immediately stop its attack which is threatening efforts to revive the peace process,” it said.
Meanwhile, in Jerusalem Muslim leaders yesterday vowed more protests. The violence on Friday has also triggered divisions within the Israeli government about the future of the renovations. At least 20 Palestinians were wounded and over 15 arrested when riot police armed with stun grenades stormed the compound.
SPME