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Israel: ‘No negotiations with Palestinians unless Hamas meets conditions’

Israel’s security cabinet passed a resolution declaring that Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations would not resume so long as the Islamist Hamas organization did not disarm, recognize Israel, forswore terror as stated in the conditions of the Quartet, return the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers and return Israeli civilians who are currently held captive in the Gaza Strip. The security cabinet resolution was made in response to the reconciliation agreement signed between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo last week. According to the security cabinet resolution, “The Israeli government will not conduct diplomatic negotiations with a Palestinian government that relies on Hamas, a terror organization that calls for Israel’s destruction, as long as the (Israeli) conditions are not met.”

In the course of the meetings, the security cabinet heard briefings from representatives of the IDF, the Internal Security Services and the Mossad Intelligence Agency, during which the security officials made it clear to the ministers that despite the Palestinian reconciliation agreement, which determined that administrative and civilian responsibility for the Gaza Strip would be turned over to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, the chances of genuine reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas were very slim.

An Israeli official explained to TV7 that Israel could not accept a situation in which, on the one hand, Hamas were to join the Palestinian government while on the other hand, it would continue to hold weapons and manufacture rockets that would be used against the Jewish state.

Meanwhile, in response to the security cabinet resolution, the Islamist Hamas organization rejected the Israeli announcement accusing Jerusalem of meddling in a Palestinian domestic matter. Hamas officials stressed that all Palestinians, no matter who, must not accept the Israeli resolution and should respond by continuing to strengthen the internal Palestinian front and completing the reconciliation process.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, released a statement saying, “the Israeli distinctions will not change the official Palestinian position which seeks to move forward with the reconciliation efforts, so as to bring about the end of the occupation and establish a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”