Jordan Times
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
King says Palestinian
unity gov’t to help break sanctions
Agencies
King Abdullah on Tuesday said the formation of a Palestinian unity government
would help break international sanctions and strengthen internal front in the
occupied territories.
The King told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a meeting that he will
rally worldwide support to ease the Palestinian economic crunch, the Jordan News
Agency, Petra, reported. Yehiya Qarallah, head of the Jordanian Representation
Office in Gaza, said 33 trucks loaded with relief aid to the Palestinians were
expected to arrive in the strip and the West Bank on Thursday and Monday,
according to Petra.
“Resolving the Palestinian issue in line with international resolutions, a
two-state solution and restoring Palestinian legitimate rights is the only way
for a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East,” King Abdullah stressed.
He reiterated his condemnation of Israel’s massacre in Beit Hanoun in the Gaza
Strip, saying that Israel’s escalated aggression on the Palestinians will deepen
their suffering and undermine international efforts to revive the peace process.
Abbas, for his part, said the main goal for forming a Palestinian coalition
government was to lift the crippling international economic siege imposed after
Hamas took control of the government.
Officials from Fateh and rival Hamas groups agreed Monday on a US-educated
professor to head the emerging Palestinian government. The move was seen as a
step towards ending months of infighting and helping lift the crippling
international aid boycott.
Hamas and Fateh said they were hopeful that the 60-year-old Mohammad Shbeir
would help persuade Israel and the West to lift the economic sanctions that
followed Hamas taking control of the Palestinian government in March.
But Abbas on Tuesday said Shbeir was just one of the candidates being
considered.
On Tuesday, Hamas insisted it won’t recognise Israel even after a new unity
government takes power in the Palestinian territories, but suggested the
emerging coalition would be free to stake out a more moderate position, the
Associated Press reported.
The tough talk came despite Hamas promises to Abbas that it would refrain from
incendiary public statements during the delicate coalition talks.
On Wednesday, envoys of the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators — the US, the
UN, the EU and Russia — were to meet in Cairo, in part to be briefed on the
coalition talks. One of the envoys, the US State Department’s David Welch, was
to get an update from Abbas later Tuesday.
For Abbas’ plan to work, Israel and the West must accept the premise that Hamas
is largely ceding power by making room for a 24-member Cabinet of independent
administrators — even though the Islamists get to appoint nine of the ministers
and would retain considerable control.
The months-long deadlock over whether the new government would recognise Israel
is to be solved by a division of labour: Abbas and his Palestine Liberation
Organisation lead peace talks with Israel, while the government of experts runs
daily life in the Palestinian territories.
In such a constellation, the argument goes, the government does not need to take
a position on whether to recognise Israel or renounce violence, because it deals
with more mundane issues.
However, the international community has demanded such declarations in exchange
for lifting its aid boycott.
So far, Israel and the West have withheld judgement on Abbas’ efforts — and the
latest Hamas comments might make it harder for the Palestinian leader to market
a future agreement.
Musa Abu Marzouk, a top official in Hamas’ exiled leadership, said Tuesday that
demands that the group recognise Israel are “illegal and illegitimate”. However,
Abu Marzouk and other spokesmen differentiated between Hamas and a new
government. “It’s not Hamas that will pronounce on this subject,” he said.
Hamas apparently hopes this ambiguity allow it to preserve its anti-Israel
ideology but open the door to easing the economic sanctions.
In Washington, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Palestinian
political activity shows up the Hamas inability to govern. “It’s a simple
reflection of the reality that because of their policies, they have failed,” he
said.
Despite the latest damper, negotiators reported more progress Tuesday, saying
they reached agreement on the division of Cabinet portfolios. Hamas would choose
nine ministers, Fateh would appoint six, and four smaller factions would pick
one each. Five more independent ministers would require the approval of Hamas
and Fateh, negotiators said.
One sticking point could be control over the interior ministry, in charge of key
branches of the security forces.
Hamas seeks guarantees that its executive force, a security branch it set up in
recent months, will not be dismantled, but Abbas has not made any promises.
An agreement on a new government would be closely linked to a Hamas-Israel
prisoner swap and a promise by Gaza fighters to halt rocket attacks on Israel.
Their barrages have triggered major Israeli strikes on Gaza in recent months.
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is to try to conclude a swap in a
visit to the Palestinian territories, starting Saturday. In a deal pushed by
Egypt, Hamas-allied fighters would release an Israeli soldier captured in June,
and Israel would free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as well as two dozen
Hamas Cabinet ministers and legislators seized in recent months.
Abbas has promised Hamas he will not present the new government to parliament
for approval until the Hamas politicians have been released.
Such a deal could pave the way for a long-overdue meeting between Abbas and
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Abbas’ aides have said there is no point in a summit as long as the Israeli
soldier is in captivity, because they fear Olmert will only consider the
soldier’s fate and no other issues.
A swap and a ceasefire, in turn, could give a push to US plans to get Gaza’s
border crossings with Israel reopened and boost Gaza’s paralysed economy.
The Rafah crossing for pedestrians and the Karni crossing for cargo have been
closed for long stretches because of security alerts.
On Tuesday, US and European diplomats met with Israeli and Palestinian officials
to discuss security arrangements at Rafah, the gate between Gaza and the Arab
world.