HOLY LAND: THE QUARTET, ISRAEL HAMAS, FATAH, PLO, PALESTINIANS, ETC...

Quartet under pressure to recognise Palestinian government

BERLIN - The major powers trying to mediate Middle East peace gathered to meet here Wednesday as pressure mounted for the international community to give the Palestinian unity government a chance.

The Quartet -- Russia, the European Union, the United States and the United Nations -- will tackle the diplomatic riddle posed by the power-sharing deal between Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and the Islamist movement Hamas.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to try to convince her allies to withhold recognition of the unity government unless Hamas meets international principles for peace, aides said.

She told reporters after talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier ahead of the Quartet meeting that the international partners had agreed to reserve judgement until the Palestinian government is formed.

‘We’ve said, all of us, that we’ll await the formation of a new government before making any decisions about what to do, because we don’t want to make premature decisions,’ Rice said.
But she said the Palestinian leadership should not expect any flexibility on the conditions the Quartet had laid out.

‘Those are not principles put there to be an obstacle, they are put there because they’re foundational for peace,’ she said.

‘It’s very difficult to imagine a circumstance where you have peace talks but one party doesn’t recognize the existence of the other.’

Hamas, which the US, European Union and Israel consider a terrorist organisation, has not yet clearly agreed to the West’s conditions of recognising Israel, renouncing violence and honouring past agreements with the Jewish state.

Rice also emphasized the importance of continuing to support Abbas in his power struggle with Iranian-backed Hamas.

Rice held an inconclusive summit Monday in Jerusalem with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Steinmeier, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, called the meeting ‘a first step’ but noted that hopes for peace were complicated by the fraught negotiations on the formation of a Palestinian government.

‘That is why we need to be particularly realistic going into these talks,’ he said, referring to the Quartet gathering.

‘We are nevertheless determined to seize this opportunity.’

Russia and the UN said they would use the Berlin meeting to push for the unity government to be recognised. Moscow said it would call for the removal of aid and diplomatic boycotts imposed on the Palestinian government after it fell under Hamas’ control following January 2006 elections.

‘I count on the Quartet speaking out in support of the agreement to form a new Palestinian government,’ Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview Wednesday with Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

The embargo imposed by the Quartet after the 2006 elections has caused widespread economic hardship in the Palestinian areas and there is growing unease in Europe over the measures.

The spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Cristina Gallach, said that Palestinian unity was a crucial step forward but indicated it was too early to consider lifting the embargo.

‘Obviously one cannot put everything on the table because they are still in negotiations -- we have not yet seen the composition of the government,’ she said.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in Berlin ahead of the Quartet talks that he was ‘encouraged’ by the power-sharing deal between Fatah and Hamas.

Abbas, long portrayed by Washington as the best ‘partner for peace’ with Israel, has embarked on a diplomatic offensive of his own. He is touring Europe to defend the unity government deal.

He insists the agreement reached between his Fatah party and Hamas should satisfy the Quartet principles since it obliges the new unity government to respect international resolutions and agreements signed by the Fatah-led Palestine Liberation Organisation -- meaning deals with the Jewish state.

Palestinians urged the Quartet powers to give their incoming government a chance.

‘We hope the Quartet will take a positive approach towards the government and not resort to pressure and boycott,’ said Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-led government.

Israel has ruled out dealing with any government that includes Hamas.

It reiterated its hope that the Quartet will stick to the conditions imposed on the Palestinian government for the aid boycott to be lifted.

‘It is important and critical that the international community continues to respect these conditions, which are not negotiable,’ Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told army radio.


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Palestinians welcome “positive change” from major powers

GAZA CITY - The outgoing Palestinian government welcomed Thursday a “positive change” from the major powers behind the Middle East peace process and said it hoped it would lead to an end to a crippling aid freeze.

“We view with interest the Quartet declaration following the meeting in Berlin and we believe that a change, which could pave the way for future cooperation, was noted in its position,” said Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-dominated cabinet that is making way for a national unity government.

Following their meeting on Wednesday, the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and United States said they would await the formation of the new broad-based administration before deciding whether to lift the boycott it imposed when the Islamists of Hamas took power last March.

“The Quartet’s support of a Palestinian unity government and its refraining from using the terms boycott or embargo mark a positive change in position,” the government spokesman said.

The Quartet set three conditions last year for ending the financial and diplomatic boycott—that any Palestinian government renounce violence and recognize Israel and past peace deals.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas says the new power-sharing cabinet will honour existing agreements between the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Israel, and thus implicitly recognise the Jewish state, but Israel has rejected the deal outright.


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Hamas says encouraged by Quartet’s position

GAZA - The Islamic militant group Hamas accused the United States on Thursday of trying to undermine European efforts to ease an economic blockade of a new Palestinian unity government.

Hamas cabinet spokesman Ghazi Hamad said the group, which took control of the Palestinian government in March after winning parliamentary elections, was encouraged by what it called a “wait and see” approach by the so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators.

The Quartet, comprising the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, repeated a demand on Wednesday that any Palestinian government renounce violence, recognise Israel and respect interim peace deals.

Israel pointed to the statement as a sign that the Quartet was firm on its three conditions.

“They’re not obstacles to peace, they are prerequisites for a successful peace process,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

The unity government deal between the ruling Hamas movement and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction has widened divisions within the Quartet.

The United States wants to continue to shun the government if it does not meet the three conditions, whereas Russia and other European governments favour a softer line.

“It (the United States) aims to undermine the European and Russian efforts in order to continue the siege imposed on our people,” said Palestinian Information Minister Youssef Rizqa of Hamas.

Poverty rates

The US-led boycott of the Hamas-led government has pushed the Palestinian Authority to the brink of financial collapse and raised poverty rates in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.

A report by the UN World Food Programme, released on Thursday, estimated that last year nearly half of Palestininians were unable to produce or access the food they need.

“They (the Quartet) have decided to wait and see until the new government is formed and they have not rushed to reiterate the continuation of the siege and sanctions,” Hamad said.

”They have left the door open for the possibility of opening a dialogue.”

Citing divisions within the Quartet, Hamad said: “I believe there is a possibility to change the Quartet’s position in a more positive manner to deal with the government.”

The unity government agreement contained a vague promise to ”respect” previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements but did not directly commit the new government to renouncing violence or recognising Israel.

“In the unity government, we have adopted a political agenda that leaves a large amount of room for political movement that could be developed. The political agenda can be used by the international community to make a serious political process,” Hamad said, though he gave no details.

But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he reached an agreement with US President George W. Bush to shun the Palestinian unity government.

Although Olmert said he would maintain contacts with Abbas, the Israeli leader played down the chances of resuming serious peace talks through the Palestine Liberation Organisation, whose interim accords with Israel were rejected by Hamas.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas has said he hopes to announce a new government within three weeks.

Hamad said progress was being made and key decisions would be taken next week.


Pertinent Links:

1) Quartet under pressure to recognise Palestinian government

2) Palestinians welcome “positive change” from major powers

3) Hamas says encouraged by Quartet’s position