Palestinian unity government ‘will recognise Israel’

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has signalled that he remains committed to troubled US-backed peace talks, saying that any unity government agreed with the militant group Hamas would recognise Israel.

Mr Abbas’s comments appeared to be aimed at soothing Western concerns about the unity deal he reached on Wednesday with Hamas, an Islamist faction sworn to Israel’s destruction and designated by Washington as a terrorist organisation.

Israel suspended peace negotiations with Mr Abbas after the reconciliation pact, and the United States said it would reconsider annual aid to the Palestinians worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

"The government would be under my command and my policy," Mr Abbas told senior leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) at his presidential headquarters in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

“Its purview will be what happens domestically. I recognise Israel and it would recognise Israel. I reject violence and terrorism,” he said.

The deal between Hamas and Mr Abbas’s Fatah party envisions agreement on a government of independent technocrats within five weeks and holding elections at least six months later.

Hamas’s continued opposition to Israel did not necessarily contradict Mr Abbas, as both sides have agreed that the unity government will not include Hamas members and will instead be made up of independent technocrats.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters: “The recognition of Israel by the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, is not new. What is important is that Hamas did not and will never recognise Israel.”

Mr Abbas seeks a Palestinian state in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in a 1967 war. Hamas, which seized control of Gaza from Fatah in 2007, retains thousands of fighters and an arsenal of rockets. It has fought repeated battles with Israel since it took control of the enclave.

A senior US official said on Thursday that a unity government could call into question some $500 million in their annual security and budget aid to Mr Abbas.

A future Palestinian government must “unambiguously and explicitly commit to non-violence, recognition of the state of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties,” the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Reuters