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‘Press Israel to meet Palestinian prisoners’ demands’
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the Islamic Hamas
movement Tuesday called on the European Union (EU) to press Israel
to meet the demands of the hunger striking prisoners.
Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riad al Maliki welcomed the
call by the EU’s missions in Jerusalem
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Ramallah/Gaza: Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and Islamic Hamas movement
officials said Tuesday that they see no big hope in reviving the
stalled peace talks with Israel after Israel's Likud and Kadima
parties agreed to form an unity government.
Nabil Shaath, member of the central committee of the Fatah party
said this agreement "will bring no new to the Palestinian-Israeli
relations as long as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policies
remained in place", reported Xinhua.
Shaath told Xinhua that Netanyahu "doesn't recognize the
Palestinian people's right to have their independent state" on the
territories that Israel occupied in 1967.
"Reshuffling governments, changing them or even going to early
elections are not the basic things as long as Netanyahu avoids the
requirements of the peace process and sticks to his settlement
policies," Shaath said, referring to Jewish settlement activities
in the West Bank.
Netanyahu suddenly struck a deal with head of the opposition
Kadima party Shaul Mofaz, cancelling early elections that had been
scheduled in September.
Mofaz, who will be Netanyahu's deputy, has often criticized the
prime minister for his aggressive focus on Iran, saying that
imminent threat to Israel came from the Palestinians, as the peace
talks have been stalled for nearly a year and a half.
Mofaz said early that he will work on restarting the negotiations
with the Palestinians, giving them 60 percent of the West Bank and
negotiating the rest. The main settlement blocs will remain in
place and the Palestinians will get other land spaces in return,
according to the Israel Radio.
Nemer Hammad, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said
that any Israeli government will be judged according to its
actions on the ground regarding the Palestinian cause, adding that
the upcoming Israeli government should halt settlement activities
and recognize the two-state solution.
Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the executive committee of Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO), accused Netanyahu of " manoeuvering"
to reduce internal public pressure on his government, which did
not make progress in peace with the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, a senior official in the Hamas government, which rules
the Gaza Strip, said Tuesday that the Israeli announcement of
forming a unity government represents a serious threat to the Gaza
Strip.
Yousef Rezqah, an aide to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haneya said
in a press statement emailed to Xinhua that the new government,
both the Likud and Kadima are determined to form "will be a reason
for various troubles in the Arab world as well as in the entire
region, mainly against Iran".
"Mofaz, leader of the Kadima Party, was the mastermind of most of
the assassinations of the leaders of the Palestinian resistance,
and he is the one who will form with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu the unity government in Israel," said Rezqah.
The prominent Hamas leader said that the structure of the new
government in Israel "shows that the Israeli society and the
leaders of its parties are completely going towards the manner of
extremism and killing, and they don't go to the side of finding a
just solution to the Palestinian cause".
The peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have
been stalled since October 2010 after the Israeli government
refused to halt settlement activities in the territories it
occupied in 1967.
The two sides, together with the international mediators, mainly
the United States and Jordan, had failed to resume the peace talks
following six weeks of exploratory talks. The Palestinians insist
that they will never resume the talks before Israel completely
halts settlement.
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