Haniya Says Government Ready To Talk With Quartet

2006-03-28

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GAZA, Palestine, March 28, 2006 (IPC + Agencies) [Official PA website]-- The Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniya said on Monday that his coming government awaits the international community, especially the Quartet Committee, to choose justice and integrity in order to realize peace in the region, adding that it should stop threatening to punish the Palestinian people for their democratic choice.

In his speech before the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Haniya highly valued the position of Russia, which chose the path of dialogue rather than threats. "Our government will be ready for a dialogue with the international Quartet Committee and explore every way to end the state of conflict and promote peace in the region," Haniya said.

On its part, the United States refused Hamas proposition to talk with it and the Quartet, as State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, "I think what the Hamas government needs to do is meet the conditions laid out by the international community. The Quartet was very clear in what those conditions are. The onus is now on Hamas."

Furthermore, a senior Israeli official said that Israel will impose unilateral steps on the Palestinians if the Hamas-led government did not change its platform.

Raanan Geissin, the spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister's office, told AFP, "If we saw that the platform of Hamas will be the government's long-term platform, then we will decide our own fates."

"We will have to move alone as we did in the past," he added, referring to the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza Strip and northern West Bank last September.

Israel has described the speech of Haniya before the PLC as "talk in vain", as Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said that Hamas "continues to refuse the conditions set out by the international community," in reference to the international community's demands for Hamas to renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept the agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

"Instead of declaring his position towards these conditions, Haniya speaks in vain, and as long as Hamas did not accept these conditions, then it will not be a legitimate partner in dialogue," Regev added.

In the meantime, the former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov harshly criticized the US policy in the Middle East, and held it fully responsible for the prevalence of terrorism.

"The positions of the Israeli government are an obstacle to peace," Primakov said, criticizing the Western attitude towards Hamas movement, and pointing out that two Israeli premieres were terrorists before they rose to office.

The Russian official added, during a speech at a seminar entitled "Russia and the Islamic world: a strategic vision", that the negative statements made by the Israeli acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert regarding the Road Map and his stances that are detached from that of this international plan, risk the entire peace process.

Primakov expressed amazement of the declared positions towards Hamas. "It is only natural that the movement would announce it will renounce violence and become more involved in the peace process, and what is certain is that Hamas will make important steps, in case no one put obstacles in its way," he maintained.

He further noted that he is convinced that Hamas' rise to power in Palestine will not be catastrophic or a justification for these who seek to inflate matters, adding that the change into a political party and involvement in negotiations is very possible for Hamas.

He reminded also that both Isaac Shamir and Menachem Begen were both terrorists who led terrorist attacks against the British forces and Palestinian residents, before becoming involved in politics and rising to office as Prime Ministers of Israel.

In another development, the European Union Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said on Monday that the Union will not turn its back to the Palestinian people.

Waldner added that the new Palestinian leadership should "seek to reach peace in peaceful methods."

The Commissioner, who was commenting on Haniya's call to the world not to punish the Palestinian people for its democratic choice of Hamas, stated in a statement at the Arab Summit in Sudan on Tuesday that the EU will not disregard the Palestinian people, whose majority are living in dire poverty.

"The European Union respects democratic choices [of the Palestinian people], but it cannot work except with those who seek peace through peaceful means. those who will form the new Palestinian Authority have the responsibility of choosing new options that are in the interest of their peoples," Waldner declared.

Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis