(Roundup)
CAPITALS, April 24 (KUNA) -- The UN, Arab organizations and regional sides pledged their support of the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal leading to a unity government between the main Palestinian factions, as Israel announced the suspension of peace talks with the Palestinians as a result.
The two Palestinian factions, after a seven-year split, announced after talks in Gaza a day prior that they would form a national unity government made up of technocrats within a five-week timeframe based on earlier agreements they made during talks in Cairo and Doha.
Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Araby, who was one of the first to congratulate the two parties on the decision, stressed the League's full support of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in "confronting Israeli pressure and the Middle East peace process." In a press statement, Al-Araby called on all international and regional parties to provide the support needed to ensure the success of the deal and Palestinian national unity.
He went on to commend the agreement, and expressed, in telephone conversation with President Abbas, his full welcoming of the outcome of the talks, reached in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the Gulf Cooperation Council followed in suit, with its Secretary-General Abdullatif Al-Zayani coming out to welcome the deal.
In a statement, he expressed full confidence that the deal would mark "an end to divisions" between the two once rival factions and "would be a step in the right direction, and a step toward achieving just rights for all Palestinian people and bolstering the Palestinian stance in peace talks (with the Israelis)." He reiterated the GCC's position in support of the "just cause of the Palestinian question and the Palestinian people and their unity." Regional powerhouse, Turkey, also hailed the deal, vowing to encourage the establishment of a free, independent and sovereign Palestinian state.
"We welcome the agreement between Fatah and Hamas delegations on April 23 for the establishment of a unity government and to go to elections," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The reconciliation deal would help to establish a government for all Palestinians through elections and build "just and comprehensive peace" in the region, the statement said, stressing that Palestinian unity was crucial for peace in the Middle East.
The United Nations also said it supported the milestone, describing it as an "important development," however, insisting that it will only support this unity providing it falls "under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas." Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq told the daily press briefing in response to a question, that the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, is meeting today with President Abbas to get his "assessment on this important development, among other things," adding that the UN "continues to support Palestinian unity based on the PLO commitments and under the leadership of President Abbas." Asked to comment on Israel's decision to suspend peace negotiations with the Palestinians because of the pact, Haq said "recent developments would need to be assessed," adding that the members of the Middle East Quartet - UN, US, EU and Russia - "would be expected to evaluate what has happened and would continue to press the parties to continue with negotiations to move forward on the goal of a two-state solution." The response came moments after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview with US news channel MSNBC, announced a suspension of peace talks with the Palestinians until the President Abbas revokes his pact with Hamas, which calls for the demise of Israel.
"What has happened is a great reverse for peace because we had hoped that the Palestinian Authority President Abbas, would embrace the Jewish state, the idea of two nation states, a Palestinian one and a Jewish one." Describing Hamas as "a terror organization, that calls for Israel's destruction," he said Abbas "took a giant leap backward" in making the pact with Hamas.
"The pact with Hamas kills peace. If it moves forward, it means that peace moves backwards." Abbas "had a choice, peace with Israel or a pact with the terrorist Hamas. And he chose to make a pact with Hamas. So that's the blow for peace. I hope that he changes his mind. And until he does so, I think it's very important that we have clarity.
"As long as I'm prime minister of Israel, I will never negotiate with a Palestinian government backed by terrorist organizations committed to our destruction," he underlined.
Israel has a "clear understanding (with the US)," he said that it "will not negotiate with a Palestinian government backed by Hamas." Netanyahu went on to stress that Abbas is "taking a giant leap backward and embraced the very people who called for the eradication of the Jewish state. That's incompatible with peace. He can't think that he can have both." He also described the pact as a "terrible decision for peace, and I think, by the way, a terrible decision for his own people - the Palestinian people - because they too must choose where they want to go, forward towards peace or backwards to Hamas." He added that Abbas still has "an opportunity to reverse the course, to go to the right direction, to abandon this pact with Hamas." (end) mfm.mm.yms.si.mb.sd