Local Editor

"Israel's" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over just-revived unity talks with Hamas, saying he had to choose between peace with "Israel" or with Hamas, during a meeting as Reuters said on Wednesday.

In remarks to reporters at a meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, Netanyahu asked, "Does he [Abbas] want peace with Hamas or peace with ‘Israel?'"
"You can have one but not the other. I hope he chooses ‘peace'. So far he hasn't done so," he added.

The bid for reconciliation coincided with meetings between the Fatah-led PLO and "Israeli" negotiators to try to extend U.S.-sponsored peace talks beyond an April 29 deadline.

Delegates from Abbas's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Hamas representatives held a session in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
In meeting with "Israeli" journalists on Tuesday, Abbas said "Israel" should commit to freezing settlement activity on occupied land and focus on demarcating the borders of a future Palestine.

The negotiations plunged into crisis this month when "Israel" refused to carry out the last of four waves of prisoner releases. After "Israel" failed to free the prisoners, Abbas responded by signing 15 international treaties, including the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of war and occupations.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team