RIYADH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday urged Palestinian groups to settle their differences.
“The competition between them is a big mistake. It will do them more harm than that done by Zionism,” the king said while talking to Shoura members. “I appeal to them again to stand united in order to strengthen their cause. They should reject their selfishness in the service of their religion and nation, Palestine.”
The king’s statement came as US Middle East envoy George Mitchell arrived here for talks with Saudi leaders on the situation in Palestine. Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal later discussed with Mitchell how to achieve a durable cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians. Prince Saud and Mitchell also discussed ways to bring the Middle East peace process back on track, while sharing information about the humanitarian needs of the war-torn Gaza Strip.
“The talks focused on a range of regional and international issues with special reference to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” said a diplomatic source, who did not want to be identified.
Mitchell, on his first visit to the region after his appointment last week, was received by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Nizar Madani and other senior officials at the Riyadh airbase.
Earlier, Jordan’s King Abdallah held talks with Mitchell in Amman and called for “serious and effective” peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Abdallah urged immediate and serious negotiations to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict “on the basis of the two-state solution,” a royal court statement said.
“King Abdallah asserted that the setting up of an independent Palestinian state on Palestinian national soil in accordance with the international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab peace initiative is a pre-requisite for the attainment of security for all (people) in the region,” it added.
The Jordanian leader praised as a “positive initiative” US President Barack Obama’s commitment to establish peace in the Middle East and build ties with the Arab and Islamic world “on the basis of mutual respect and joint interests.”
As diplomacy for a permanent peace in the region gathered momentum, Tony Blair, envoy of the Middle East Quartet, said Hamas should be part of the peace process.
“I do think it is important that we find a way of bringing Hamas into this process, but it can only be done if Hamas is prepared to do it on the right terms,” Blair said in an interview with the Times newspaper.
“If you do this in the wrong way it can destabilize the very people in Palestine who have been working all through for the moderate cause.”
In Gaza, Hamas official Mushir Al-Masri said Blair’s comments were proof that the West was acknowledging that Hamas could not be dismissed, although he added that the envoy’s demands were unacceptable to the group.
“Blair’s statement ... repeated the same obstacles set by the West: to reject the recognition of Palestinian democracy, to impose the siege, to provide cover for the Zionist enemy’s crimes against our people and to refuse to deal with the legitimate government and Parliament,” Al-Masri said.
A rocket fired by Palestinians in Gaza exploded near the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon yesterday, the third since a cease-fire ended Israel’s devastating three-week war on the territory. The Israeli Army said no casualties or damage were reported from the rocket strike, which came ahead of talks in Cairo today on efforts to shore up the fragile truce.
Hamas has ruled out a long-term cease-fire with Israel if it does not open the sealed border crossings with the coastal territory. Israel has said it would not do so while the group rules Gaza and holds Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured in a cross-border raid in 2006.
The Palestinian Authority yesterday rejected the Israeli link between the opening of the Gaza crossings and the release of Shalit.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said after a meeting with European diplomats in Ramallah that “linking the two is a clear breach of the Egyptian cease-fire initiative and the US-brokered agreement of 2005 to operate Gaza crossings.”
Meanwhile, relations between Israel and Turkey remained tense. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday criticized Israel for arresting leading Hamas parliamentarians and described the West Bank and Gaza Strip as “an open-air prison.”
In an interview with the Washington Post, Erdogan said Israel’s moves provoked Hamas. “You expect them to sit obediently?” he asked.
The Turkish prime minister’s frank criticism has come as its relationship with Israel appears to be in a downward spiral. On Thursday, Erdogan had a heated exchange with Israeli President Shimon Peres at a panel discussion in Davos, Switzerland in which he accused the Israelis of killing children. Later, Erdogan suggested the high Palestinian civilian death toll in Gaza during Israel’s operation was intentional.
— With input from Abdul Jalil Mustafa and agencies
