CAIRO: Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit took a fresh swipe at the Hamas-led Palestinian government and leader Ismail Haniya in an interview published Tuesday by the top-selling daily Al Ahram. "There is an Arab initiative of land for peace, which the Palestinian prime minister rejects. So let him find a solution on his own. I say this with no equivocation," Abul-Gheit said.The initiative the foreign minister referred to was adopted by the 2002 Arab summit in Beirut and offers peace to Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from Arab territories it occupied in 1967. On Sunday, the Islamist Palestinian premier described the initiative as "problematic, for it entails recognizing Israel, while we have already made it known that we refuse such recognition."
Abul-Gheit criticized Haniya for refusing to endorse the agreements previously signed with Israel by the Palestine Liberation Organization and warned the Palestinian government that it should "take responsibility for its acts."
"When the Palestinian prime minister says Arabs should play their part, we tell him that Arabs and Palestinians should do this together. The Arabs cannot play alone a part that you reject," Abul-Gheit said. Western donors have cut aid to the Palestinians following Hamas' victory in elections earlier this year, demanding that the radical movement officially renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist. Egypt has been struggling in its mediation of the crisis that erupted when Palestinian factions, including the armed wing of the governing Hamas, captured an Israeli soldier in the southern Gaza Strip on June 25.