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PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (file)
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| By Israel Insider staff August 16, 2007 |
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PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' seemingly conciliatory messages to Hamas have Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert concerned. Olmert warned Abbas on Wednesday that any move to reunite the two rival factions would cause the collapse of Israeli-PA negotiations.
Olmert's comments followed a comment made by Abbas urging Hamas to "return to national unity," which Hamas understood as a call for renewed negotiations. There have recently been numerous reports of secret talks between the two groups.
"The split that happened [between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip] as a result of Hamas's coup is temporary and will be removed," Abbas said. "The Palestinian people are opposed to this separation because we want a united and independent Palestinian state."
Abbas pledged to continue to work toward reuniting the Palestinians.
"We will also continue to support our people in the Gaza Strip, because this is our responsibility," he said.
However the chairman vowed not to renew negotiations with Hamas, which advocates terrorism against Israel and refuses to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist.
In related news, the Olmert administration is working with the PA leadership to create a series of economic initiatives in an attempt to strengthen and stabilize the region under Abbas.
According to Haaretz, Israel proposed several "strategic" projects, among them are infrastructure improvements such as electricity and water, city planning in the West Bank and Gaza, rehabilitation of sewage systems and the establishment of a "peace corridor" in Jericho.
"Efforts on the economic track are not at the expense of the diplomatic dialogue with the PA," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said. "Israel has a responsibility to create a diplomatic process and reach an agreement with the Palestinians on the widest possible basis."
Livni, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelelah al-Khatib, and the Palestine Liberation Organization's chief of negotiations, Saeb Erekat met on Wednesday at Jericho's Intercontinental Hotel to discuss the plan.
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