The Palestinians have received assurances from some European Union countries that they will end their boycott of the PA government with the swearing-in of the new unity coalition, Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-led coalition, said on Saturday. He said the countries that have already signaled their willingness to deal with the new government include Norway, France, Britain and Germany.
Hamad told The Jerusalem Post shortly before the Palestinian Legislative Council endorsed the new coalition that several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar, had been exerting heavy pressure on the US to accept the new government and to lift sanctions imposed in the aftermath of Hamas's victory in the 2006 parliamentary election.
Legislators gave a standing ovation as the council approved the new government by an 83-3 majority on Saturday evening. Eighty-seven out of the 132 members of the PLC participated in separate sessions in Ramallah and Gaza City, which were linked by videoconference. Forty-one legislators, among them 37 Hamas members, are in Israeli prisons.
| The new program does not explicitly meet the three conditions set by the Quartet for dealing with the government - renouncing violence, recognizing Israel and abiding by previous agreements - but its wording is open to interpretation, with some arguing that it does meet these conditions. |
The new program does not explicitly meet the three conditions set by the Quartet for dealing with the government - renouncing violence, recognizing Israel and abiding by previous agreements - but its wording is open to interpretation, with some arguing that it does meet these conditions.
Addressing the session in Gaza City, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said the unity government marked the beginning of "a new phase in the Palestinian struggle to establish an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital." Referring to the first intifada, which began in 1987, Abbas said: "Today we are proud to say that all forms of struggle that we carried out led more than 10 years ago to the establishment of the Palestinian Authority and its institutions."
He said the "national unity" agreement reached between Fatah and Hamas in Mecca last month was in the context of Palestinian efforts to "end the occupation of our lands that were occupied in 1967 and to ensure a just solution to the problem of the refugees on the basis of United Nations [General Assembly] Resolution 194."
| "We are ready, without preconditions, to move forward with the peace process and resume negotiations between the Israeli government and the PLO. The policy of settlements, the construction of the racist separation fence and the siege of Jerusalem will only make the path to peace more difficult and complicated. We are once again extending our hand to achieve the peace of equality and freedom." |
Abbas's speech carried four messages, directed to Palestinians, Israelis, Arabs and the international community, respectively. Addressing the Israelis, he said: "We are ready, without preconditions, to move forward with the peace process and resume negotiations between the Israeli government and the PLO. The policy of settlements, the construction of the racist separation fence and the siege of Jerusalem will only make the path to peace more difficult and complicated. We are once again extending our hand to achieve the peace of equality and freedom. Here I wish to emphasize that the Palestinians reject all forms of violence."
Abbas reiterated his pledge to do his utmost to secure the release of kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit as part of a prisoner swap. In his message to the Palestinians, Abbas expressed hope that the new government would focus on tackling the anarchy and lawlessness on the streets, implementing social and economic reforms, maintaining the security calm in the Gaza Strip and battling growing unemployment. |