GAZA CITY, 18 September 2006 — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas froze talks with Hamas yesterday over forming a new unity government in a move that threatens Western aid returning soon to the beleaguered territories.
Close aides to the Palestinian leader said the talks were being put on hold until after Abbas returns from a trip to New York to attend the annual United Nations General Assembly, because of disagreements with the ruling Hamas movement over existing deals with Israel. “All of the president’s efforts have been disrupted by a number of statements from leaders of Hamas announcing the lack of readiness of any government formed by Hamas to respect the obligations and agreements of the Palestine Liberation Organization,” Abbas aide Nabil Amr said in a statement.
As a result, Abbas has decided on “the freezing of efforts to form the national unity government,” he said.
The PLO is the Palestinian umbrella organization that has historically been responsible for negotiating with Israel.
Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a spokesman for Abbas’ Fatah party and a close adviser to the president, said: “Talks are frozen until Abbas returns from New York because it is not possible for the candidate to head the new government to say ‘I don’t believe in the past agreements’.”
Hamas downplayed the statements. “Progress in the negotiations has been good,” Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad said. “In spite of some problems and difficulties, the general atmosphere is positive.”
Hamad said it was no longer possible to turn back on the proposed unity government. “The idea of a national unity government has become an idea that all parties are bound to,” he said.
Last week Abbas and Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh announced that after weeks of tortuous talks they had agreed on a platform for a national unity government.
Palestinians hope the formation of a new Cabinet will lead the West to lift a freeze on aid to the Palestinian government that was imposed after Hamas assumed power in March. The European Union and the United States, along with Israel, consider Hamas a terrorist organization and are demanding that it renounce violence, recognize the Jewish state and agree to abide by past Israeli-Palestinian agreements if the financial assistance is to resume.
The platform for the future Palestinian coalition government agreed on by Abbas and Haniyeh last week is based on a June 27 agreement signed by most Palestinian factions. That agreement implicitly recognizes Israel and calls for anti-Israeli attacks to be confined to the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and an independent state to be created within their borders.
But on Saturday Haniyeh told reporters that any future unity government — which he had been expected to head — would not necessarily recognize past agreements signed with Israel. The June 27 initiative “does not speak about recognizing the agreements signed with the Israeli occupation, but talks about dealing with these agreements in a way that serves the greater interests of the Palestinian people. And that does not mean that we will recognize these agreements,” he said.
Haniyeh’s comments came on the eve of Abbas’ scheduled trip to New York, where he is due to plead the Palestinian case in a speech before the UN General Assembly and in face-to-face meetings with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
