Bibi: «Israel» Won’t Cut Ties with PA over Unity Deal with Hamas

Local Editor

At a meeting of the security cabinet on Monday, "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the "Israeli" would not recognize or accept the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, but will neither try to prevent its implementation nor break off relations with the Palestinian Authority. This was related by three sources with inside knowledge, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

These sources said that Netanyahu told the members of the inner cabinet that if the agreement is implemented and individuals from the PA return to head civilian government offices in the Gaza Strip and to staff crossing points on the Gaza border, the entity should cooperate with them because it serves the state's interest in preventing a humanitarian crisis and improving the living conditions in the Strip.

Nevertheless, Netanyahu said he had clarified to Egypt and the US that the agreement did not change anything for the entity in regard to negotiations with the Palestinians. He added that his message to Cairo and Washington was that he rejected the argument according to which the reconciliation, in putting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in charge of the Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank, will facilitate the resumption of talks between the "Israeli" entity and the Palestinians.

A senior US official said in response that the Trump administration is following the implementation of the reconciliation agreement and was in contact with Egypt, the "Israeli" entity and the Palestinians.

The two-and-a-half-hour meeting of the security cabinet was the first scheduled discussion of the agreement, which was signed on Thursday. When it ended, it was decided to reconvene on Tuesday to give all members a chance to speak.

In Tuesday's discussion, the inner cabinet is expected to set "Israeli" policy on the reconciliation. So-called Education Minister Naftali Bennett said in recent days that the entity should sever ties with the Palestinians. But one of the sources said the general inclination is to adopt Netanyahu's position of refusing to recognize the agreement without taking action to scuttle it, and at the same time continuing its coordination with the Palestinian Authority.

Netanyahu's attitude to this accord is very different from his approach to the reconciliation reached between Fatah and Hamas in April 2014, which collapsed a few months later. In 2014 the security cabinet decided to freeze negotiations with the PA and sever contacts between "Israeli" cabinet members and their Palestinian counterparts. After then-Justice Minister Tzipi Livni met with Abbas in London despite the cabinet resolution, Netanyahu and his aides attacked her conduct.

Last week, after the agreement was announced, the entity responded with restraint. The "Israeli" Prime Minister's Office refrained from attacking it, striking a diplomatic tone in referring to it: "‘Israel' will monitor developments on the ground and act accordingly," the PMO said in a statement. It added that the "Israeli" entity opposes any reconciliation that does not honor international agreements and the conditions of the Quartet, "first and foremost ... recognizing ‘Israel' and disarming Hamas."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team