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Netanyahu Issues Global Warning on Hamas-Fatah “Terror” Alliance

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Sitting with his ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, June 1, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Palestinian alliance would strengthen terrorism (Pool Photo- Dan Balilty)
Sitting with his ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, June 1, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Palestinian alliance would strengthen terrorism (Pool Photo- Dan Balilty)
Israel, on Monday, June 2, called on world leaders “not to rush to recognize” the new Palestinian transitional government involving Fatah and the Islamist group Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the unity cabinet would “strengthen terror” and not peace.

The Palestinian leadership has dismissed Israel’s concerns, saying the government would comprise ministers without political affiliation.

Hamas and Fatah split violently in 2007 but announced a peace deal in April. Fatah governs in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank while Hamas which has refused to recognize Israel’s existence has a power hold in the Gaza Strip.

The Islamist movement is designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the US, the EU, Canada and Japan. The main purpose of the unity government is to prepare for elections next year.

“Hamas is a terrorist organization that calls for Israel’s destruction, and the international community must not embrace it,” Netanyahu told his cabinet in Jerusalem on Sunday.

Israel froze US-brokered peace talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after the unity deal was reached on 23 April.

On Sunday, Abbas officially swore in a unity government under a deal with rival group Hamas.

“The government is a temporary one and its duty is to prepare for elections soon, in addition to its duty to help the people,” Abbas said.

Abbas said the new ministers are technocrats and independents who don’t belong to either Fatah or Hamas and that the new government would abide by commitments made by previous Palestinian administrations and by agreements ratified by the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

The elections are aimed at ending a split with Hamas that began when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip seven years ago.

Netanyahu said on Sunday that his government would not negotiate with any Palestinian group that included Hamas.

Abbas announced a reconciliation deal was imminent after talks broke down with Israel over reviving the stalled Middle East peace negotiations.

Fatah and Hamas announced they were reconciling nearly two years ago, but implementation of the deal encountered many obstacles.

Israel, following the Hamas takeover in Gaza, imposed a blockade on the enclave that crippled its economy and caused frequent shortages of basic goods.

Gazans survived in large part on humanitarian aid and hundreds of smuggling tunnels into Egypt. Most of the tunnels were destroyed after the coup last year that brought the military to power in Egypt.

The new Egyptian government considers Hamas to be an off-shoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, which it has vowed to destroy.

The United States considers Hamas a terrorist organization, and Secretary of State John Kerry expressed concerns Sunday to Abbas about the Islamist group having a role in any Palestinian government.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Abbas assured the secretary that the government would commit to nonviolence and recognize Israel, and that Kerry said the U.S. would judge the body by its composition, policies and actions. She also said that Washington believes Abbas has “formed an interim technocratic government… that does not include members affiliated with Hamas and that “with what we know now, we will work with this government.”

Meanwhile, on Monday, Israel said it was “deeply disappointed” by the United States’ readiness to work with a new Palestinian Authority (PA) unity government.

“We are deeply disappointed by the comments of the (U.S.) State Department regarding working with the Palestinian unity government,” a government official told AFP.

“This Palestinian government is a government backed by Hamas, which is a terror organization committed to Israel’s destruction,” the official, who declined to be named, pointed out.

“If the U.S. administration wants to advance peace, it should be calling on (PA Chairman Mahmoud) Abbas to end his pact with Hamas and return to peace talks with Israel,” the official said.

“Instead, it is enabling Abbas to believe that it is acceptable to form a government with a terrorist organization.”

As the new unity government; (the first in seven years) was sworn in on Monday, Abbas said,”Today, with the formation of a national consensus government, we announce the end of a Palestinian division that has greatly damaged our national case.

“This black page in history has been turned forever,” he said in remarks echoed by the outgoing Hamas government in Gaza.

“We hail the national consensus government, which represents all the Palestinian people,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP.

The Israeli Cabinet subsequently decided not to engage politically with the new government, as part of the policy not to negotiate with terrorists.

In an official statement, Prime Minister Netanyahu said “Abbas said ‘yes’ to terror, not peace It is the direct continuation of Abbas’s policy to refuse peace, while Israel has made courageous and painful steps for the political process and remains committed to peace.”

According to a report in the New York Times, Israeli officials said no decisions had yet been made regarding sanctions against the new government or how the change would affect day-to-day interactions with Palestinians. But Israel has already denied permits for the three nominated ministers who live in the Gaza Strip to travel through its territory to attend Monday’s ceremony in the West Bank, something a spokesman ascribed to “issues of politics.”

Separately, the Israeli Air Force struck two targets in Gaza early Monday morning, in what it called a response to two rockets fired from there in the past two days. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

A senior Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of getting ahead of the decision-makers, said, “We’re entering a new reality.”

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