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Title: The US and Israel will not work with a new Palestinian unity government unless it recognises Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said.
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Published: Feb 18, 2007
Author: staff
Post Date: 2007-02-18 20:23:18 by tom007
Keywords: None
Views: 67
Comments: 2
The US and Israel will not work with a new Palestinian unity government unless it recognises Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said. He was speaking a day before three-way talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Ms Rice held separate talks with both men on Sunday. Publicly, she said the US would "await the formation of a [unity] government before making any decisions". Hamas, the largest group in the proposed Palestinian unity government, refuses to recognise Israel. Mr Olmert said a Palestinian government that failed to accept conditions laid down by the quartet of the US, EU, Russia and UN "cannot receive recognition and there will not be co-operation with it". "I spoke about this on Friday with the president of the United States, and I can tell you the Israeli and US positions are completely identical," Mr Olmert said in televised comments. Power-sharing deal The EU, US and Russia have maintained an economic boycott of the Palestinian government since Hamas won legislative elections in January last year. After weeks of internal fighting, Hamas and the rival Fatah faction agreed last week to form a national unity government. As a result, Ismail Haniya, of Hamas, resigned from his post as prime minister on Thursday and was asked by Mr Abbas, who heads Fatah, to form a new national unity government. Ms Rice spent more than two hours in talks with Mr Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah. She then held talks in Jerusalem with Mr Olmert. Before those meetings, Ms Rice said it was an important time to advance the vision of a Palestinian state. Mr Olmert's comments will add to doubts about whether the US will engage with a new Palestinian unity government. Many observers wonder whether the two embattled leaders, Mr Olmert and Mr Abbas, are strong enough to take the difficult steps towards peace, says the BBC's Bethany Bell in Jerusalem. Moderation urged Speaking after talks with Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Ms Rice said now was "an important time to talk about how we advance the vision of two states living side-by-side in peace and in freedom". Ismail Haniya and Mahmoud Abbas Mr Abbas (right) charged Mr Haniya with forming a unity government But she and Ms Livni both stressed that any new Palestinian coalition government must recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept past peace agreements. Hamas' refusal to recognise Israel has led to a crippling ban on Western financial aid since the party came to power. Meanwhile, factional fighting between Fatah and Hamas has claimed more than 90 Palestinian lives since December. Mr Haniya now has five weeks to get a new cabinet accepted by the Hamas-dominated parliament. But if Hamas maintains its position regarding Israel, there is concern that any talks brokered by Washington will be futile, correspondents say.
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#1. To: tom007 (#0)
LOL. See how this works- make a list of demands- then just add additional caveats and demands arbitrarily. Israel and the US notion of "peace" in the ME is a Greater Israel cleansed of Arabs and an Arab world decimated, divided, impovrished- to make the Arab world resemble west africa- while the US and Israel sit in little fortress oases living high on the hog off the oil dough. To recognize "Israel's right to exist" would be to reward a racialist state that exists on stolen land and beg them to take more. Indeed- when we talk of "appeassement"- any Arab or Moslem who speaks of recognizing Israel is an appeasser who is signing his own death warrant and that of his people.
Yes it is breathing. And the religious rapture nuts seem to have a strangle hold over the political process, along with the Israel firsters.
#2. To: Burkeman1 (#1)
LOL. See how this works- make a list of demands- then just add additional caveats and demands arbitrarily.
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