Abbas: Fatah, Hamas cement deal
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The formation of a Palestinian unity government backed by rivals Hamas and Fatah will be announced on Monday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday.
Abbas said Israel has warned him that it will take punitive steps against the new alliance.
The formation of the government would be the mostsignificant step yet toward ending a crippling 7-year-old Palestinian political split. However, it is also bound to increase friction between Abbas and Israel’s hard-line government.
Abbas said yesterday that he would respond to any Israeli punitive measure, such as the withholding of monthly transfers of $100 million in taxes and customs that Israel collects on behalf of his Palestinian Authority. The funds are vital to keeping the self-rule government afloat.
The long-running HamasFatah rivalry escalated in 2007 when Hamas, an Islamic militant group, seized the Gaza Strip from the internationally backed Abbas, the leader of Fatah, in 2007.
Hamas, which has carried out scores of bombing, shooting and rocket attacks against Israeli targets, is considered a terrorist group by Israel and the West.
After the April collapse of U.S.-mediated Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the Palestinian rivals revived reconciliation efforts. Negotiators met repeatedly to agree on a government of technocrats backed by both sides that is to prepare for general elections in 2015. In recent days, there were last-minute disagreements, but Abbas’ announcement suggests that the issues have been resolved.
“The announcement of the government will be on Monday,” he said during a meeting with several dozen pro-Palestinian activists from France. “The Israelis informed us today that they are going to boycott us immediately after we form the government.
“They are going to withhold our money,” he said, referring to the monthly transfers. “This is our money, not aid from Israel, and we will not stay silent. They want to punish us because we have an agreement with Hamas, which is part of our people.”
Abbas reiterated that the unity government would follow his pragmatic program.
“We say (the government) is going to recognize Israel, denounce violence and recognize the international agreements,” he said, echoing the international community’s conditions for dealing with Hamas. “This is a technocrat government. It has nothing to do with Fatah, Hamas or any factions.”
A senior Israeli government official said the formation of a unity government “is a great leap backward” but declined to say whether Israel would take punitive action.