Israel denounces US for accepting Abbas’s Hamas-backed government
In furious comments, officials in Jerusalem say Washington indicating to Abbas that it’s okay to ‘form a government with a terrorist group’
June 2, 2014, 11:23 pm
From
left: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Barack Obama and
PA President Mahmoud Abbas during a trilateral meeting in New York,
Sept. 22, 2009 (photo credit: Avi Ohayon/GPO/Flash90)
Jerusalem on Monday night
slammed the United States for announcing that it will work with the new
Palestinian unity government, sworn in earlier Monday. In strikingly
bitter comments, officials said that rather than cooperating with a
government backed by a terror group, Washington ought to be urging
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to disband his pact with
Hamas and resume peace negotiations with Israel.
“We
are deeply disappointed by the comments of the State Department
regarding working with the Palestinian unity government. This
Palestinian government is a government backed by Hamas, which is a
terror organization committed to Israel’s destruction,” Israeli
government officials said. “If the US administration wanted to advance
peace, it should be calling on Abbas to end his pact with Hamas and
return to peace talks with Israel,” they added. “Instead, it is enabling
Abbas to believe that it is acceptable to form a government with a
terrorist organization.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and
the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem declined to comment on the record.
Earlier Monday, Israel’s senior ministers decided to boycott the new
government, since it is backed by Hamas, designated a terrorist
organization by Israel and the US.
Earlier on Monday, State Department
spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US believes Abbas has “formed an interim
technocratic government…that does not include members affiliated with
Hamas.” Therefore, she added, “With what we know now, we will work with
this government.”
Psaki did say, however, that Washington “will
continue to evaluate the composition and policies of the new government
and if needed we’ll modify our approach.” She later added that the
administration would be “watching carefully to make sure” that the unity
government upholds the principles that serve as preconditions for
continuing US aid to the PA.
Psaki’s announcement was a major surprise to
Israeli leaders; sources in Washington had been quoted in Israel in
recent days saying the US would not immediately recognize the new PA
government.
As recently as Sunday, Secretary of State John
Kerry called Abbas and “expressed concern about Hamas’s role in any
such government and the importance that the new government commit to the
principles of nonviolence, recognition of the state of Israel and
acceptance of previous agreements with it,” Psaki had said.
Earlier Monday, Kerry discussed the recent
developments in a phone call with Netanyahu. State Department officials
would not discuss the content of the conversation, or comment on whether
the US administration’s announcement had come as a surprise to the
Israeli government.
Asked if Israel would agree to return to the
negotiating table after it suspended the talks in April, she said that
would be up to the Israeli government to decide.
“It is ultimately up to the parties … to make
the difficult decisions about coming to the negotiating table,” Psaki
said. “So we will see. We are not in a position to make a prediction at
this point.”
Psaki said that the United States is open to
the current plan set out by the interim PA unity government, according
to which long-delayed elections in the Palestinian Authority will be
held in six months’ time.
“As a matter of principle we support
democratic free and fair elections,” Psaki said, but added that “it is
too early to speculate as to what the outcome will be and we will let
events proceed.”
The State Department spokeswoman commented
that although the US continues to expect Abbas to uphold his commitment
to maintaining security coordination with Israel, Hamas’s support for
the current government did not change the American perspective on
culpability for rocket attacks launched toward Israeli targets from the
Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
“We expect the PA to do everything in its
power to prevent attacks from Gaza, but we understand that [the] Gaza
Strip is under the control of Hamas,” Psaki explained.
Earlier, in Ramallah, Abbas swore in 17
ministers in a new technocratic government meant to steer the PA toward
elections within six months.
The Israeli cabinet, meanwhile, said on Monday
it would boycott the new PA government and hold it responsible for any
rockets fired at Israel from Gaza.
In a decision approved at a special meeting of
the Ministerial Committee for National Security Affairs, Netanyahu and
eight top ministers said they would not deal with the new government and
would form a team to “examine courses of action” in light of the new
Palestinian unity government.
Abbas swore in the ministers Monday afternoon
after Gaza’s Hamas rulers and Abbas’s Fatah resolved a last-minute
disagreement over a key government ministry.
He hailed the “end” of Palestinian division,
saying: “Today, with the formation of a national consensus government,
we announce the end of a Palestinian division that has greatly damaged
our national case.”
Abbas has pledged that the new administration
will abide by the principles laid down by the Middle East peace Quartet
that call for recognizing Israel, rejecting violence and abiding by all
existing agreements, though Hamas has yet to ratify those conditions.
AFP, Elhanan Miller and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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