JERUSALEM, 13 March 2006 — Likud, the right-wing party trailing ahead of a March 28 Israeli election, rejected yesterday any Palestinian state led by Hamas, as the group continued its refusal to renounce violence.
Hamas, which won elections in January, unveiled a proposed government program Saturday that does not renounce its commitment to destroying Israel but says recognition of it is “a decision for the Palestinian people.”
Speaking to the Yediot Aharonot daily, which yesterday published an outline of the Likud campaign platform, party leader and former premier Benjamin Netanyahu asked: “Should I be talking about concessions when the Hamas government is in power?”
“At the moment there is nothing to be done and we need to fight Hamas. As long as Hamas is in control, we will not return any territory to them, we will not transfer any money to them and we will not allow Palestinian workers to work in Israel. Our platform will be revised according to circumstances.”
Israel, the United States and the European Union have all conditioned any dealings with a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority on its renouncing violence, recognizing Israel and honoring past agreements with the Jewish state.
And so has moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah party has as a result so far refused to agree to join a coalition government.
Fatah’s parliamentary chief Azam Al-Ahmed told AFP on Saturday: “We have rejected their government program because it did not meet president Mahmoud Abbas’s demands.
