Moscow to host PLO-Hamas unity talks on Feb. 26 – PA
Moscow plans to host unity talks between all Palestinian factions, including Hamas, on February 26, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said Sunday, as he called for unilateral statehood recognition as a prerequisite to peace talks.
“Russia has invited all Palestinian factions who will be meeting on the 26th of this month in Moscow,” Shtayyeh told the Munich Security Conference during a public interview.
He explained that the Palestine Liberation Organization’s invitation for Hamas to join it was a conditional one and would come into play only if the group accepted certain prerequisites.
“One should not continue focusing on October 7,” Shtayyeh said, as he denounced Hamas’s actions on that day.
“No way [do] we accept any killing of any innocent civilian people,” he said, but added that, “we need a situation in which Palestinians are united, but again on our political agenda.”
He clarified that this would include a Hamas acceptance of “two states on the border of ’67, through peaceful means,” he said.
“For Hamas to be a member of the PLO, there are certain prerequisites. Hamas has to accept the political platform of the PLO,” Shtayyeh said.
“We have to have an understanding of issues that have to do with resistance,” Shtayyeh said as he explained that the PLO is “calling for popular resistance and not anything else.”
“If Hamas is ready to come to the ground with us, we are ready to engage. If Hamas is not going to come to ground with us, that is a different story,” he stated, adding, “But we need Palestinian unity.”
There needs to be a solution that covers both Gaza and the West Bank under the umbrella of a Palestinian state that is recognized by the West and is accepted as a member state of the United Nations.
“There needs to be a serious paradigm shift from talks into a resolution that the United States and Europe do recognize the state of Palestine on the borders of ‘67 and Palestine will be admitted as an independent sovereign state as a member of the UN,” Shtayyeh said. “And then we are ready to go for elections,” he added.
“One of the problems,” he said, “is that “there are members of the Israeli government today who do not want to see us, not as a state and not as an authority.
“The problem today is that for the first time, you do not have a partner in Israel to sit down and talk to. When you do not have a partner there is no process.
“Therefore you need a third-party intervention,” Shtayyeh said. “Europe, the UN, the US, Arab countries [have to] come up with a solution.
“The Palestinians need independence. They need an end to the occupation. They need to live free. This is where you end the frustration. You endanger. You end violence. That is how you end the conflict, by giving people their rights,” Shtayyeh said.
“The way to end the conflict with Israel is to go to the roots of the issue and the root of the problem for Palestinians is the end of the occupation. That is the name of the game,” he said.