WORLD / Middle East |
Hamas: New Palestinian gov't won't recognise Israel(Reuters)Updated: 2007-02-10 21:25 Gaza - The Palestinian unity government which will be formed under an agreement reached in Saudi Arabia will not recognise Israel, a political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Saturday. "The issue of recognition was not addressed at all (in Mecca)," Ahmed Youssef said. "In the platform of the new government there will be no sign of recognition (of Israel), regardless of the pressures the United States and the Quartet would exert," he said. Youssef said Haniyeh hoped to form the new government before a meeting of the Quartet of Middle East mediators on February 21 and urged the Quartet to lift sanctions on the Palestinians. "The pretext by the Quartet to continue the boycott of Hamas members in the government should end because they are wrong policies that will only push towards more tension and possibly towards more conflict in the Palestinian territories," he said. The Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- on Friday repeated its demand that any Palestinian government renounce violence, recognise Israel and respect peace deals in order to receive Western aid. In a joint statement, the Quartet withheld judgement on whether the new Palestinian unity government to be formed by Fatah and Hamas met its conditions. The rival Palestinian factions signed an agreement to form the government on Thursday, hoping to end bloodshed between their followers and to win back Western aid halted because of the hostility of Hamas to Israel.
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