Olmert lobbies foreign leaders over Hamas
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday Israel would boycott a Palestinian government that includes Hamas and urged foreign leaders to do the same until the militant group meets Israeli terms.
Israel will not hold any contacts with the Palestinians" unless Hamas "renounced terror," recognized the Jewish state's right to exist and accepted all agreements Palestinian leaders had signed with Israel, Olmert said in broadcast remarks.
Addressing his cabinet, he said he delivered that message in telephone calls to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan's King Abdullah and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
"These principles are acceptable to the international community. I do not intend to make any compromise on this matter," said Olmert.
In an interview with Newsweek, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said Hamas should respect a U.S.-backed "road map" that envisages a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel and interim peace deals Palestinian leaders made with Israel.
Nazif also said Hamas, which scored a crushing victory over the long-dominant Fatah party in Wednesday's parliamentary election, should be given a chance to show its intentions.
Hamas's charter calls for the destruction of Israel and its replacement by an Islamic Palestinian state.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who begins a visit to Israel and Palestinian areas later on Sunday, said she would shun Hamas but meet President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
Merkel will be the first European Union leader to visit the area since the Palestinian vote.
Fatah leaders have so far rejected joining any coalition with Hamas, whose anti-corruption platform, charity network and nearly 60 suicide bombings in Israel since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000, propelled it to victory.
Hamas leaders have rejected as blackmail Western demands that it renounce violence against Israel or risk losing aid vital to the survival of the Palestinian Authority.
But Hamas has largely abided by a ceasefire Abbas reached with Israel, and Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was quoted by media reports as saying the Islamic group was "behaving responsibly" and would likely continue to curb attacks.
ISLAMIC LAW?
Olmert's office issued a statement on Thursday quoting him as rejecting talks with a Palestinian administration that includes Hamas, but he had not spoken out publicly on the issue until the cabinet meeting.
Israel and the Palestinians have not held peace talks in five years and a U.S.-backed "road map" to a settlement has been stalled by violence and by violations by both sides.
In Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, a local Hamas leader, Mahmoud Ramahi, ruled out political talks with Israel but not contacts with Israeli officials on public works and health issues affecting daily life.
"We were forced to do these things in the past because we live under occupation. We will still live under occupation even if we are in the government," Ramahi said.
Ramahi told Reuters that Hamas had no immediate plans to try to impose Islamic law in the West Bank and Gaza.
"When we get a state, we will leave it to the people to choose," he said, promising a referendum. "We believe that the people will choose Islamic rule, but this will be after liberation, not now."
Turmoil in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip since the election landslide has fueled fears of inter-Palestinian strife as Hamas tries to form a government and possibly take over security forces packed with Fatah loyalists.
Final results issued on Sunday by the Central Elections Commission revised from 76 to 74 the number of seats Hamas won in the 132-member parliament compared with 45 for Fatah.
A spokesman for Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Gaza called for a smooth transition of power but warned Hamas against removing any of Fatah members of the security services.
In southern Gaza, 9 Fatah officials, in charge of the faction's recruitment, social work and political activities in the area resigned in response to an election loss widely seen as punishment for years of corruption by the mainstream faction.
The officials, who control some 600 grassroots activists, called on members of Fatah's central committee and revolutionary council to do the same.
(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah)
Israel will not hold any contacts with the Palestinians" unless Hamas "renounced terror," recognized the Jewish state's right to exist and accepted all agreements Palestinian leaders had signed with Israel, Olmert said in broadcast remarks.
Addressing his cabinet, he said he delivered that message in telephone calls to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan's King Abdullah and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
"These principles are acceptable to the international community. I do not intend to make any compromise on this matter," said Olmert.
In an interview with Newsweek, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said Hamas should respect a U.S.-backed "road map" that envisages a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel and interim peace deals Palestinian leaders made with Israel.
Nazif also said Hamas, which scored a crushing victory over the long-dominant Fatah party in Wednesday's parliamentary election, should be given a chance to show its intentions.
Hamas's charter calls for the destruction of Israel and its replacement by an Islamic Palestinian state.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who begins a visit to Israel and Palestinian areas later on Sunday, said she would shun Hamas but meet President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
Merkel will be the first European Union leader to visit the area since the Palestinian vote.
Fatah leaders have so far rejected joining any coalition with Hamas, whose anti-corruption platform, charity network and nearly 60 suicide bombings in Israel since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000, propelled it to victory.
Hamas leaders have rejected as blackmail Western demands that it renounce violence against Israel or risk losing aid vital to the survival of the Palestinian Authority.
But Hamas has largely abided by a ceasefire Abbas reached with Israel, and Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was quoted by media reports as saying the Islamic group was "behaving responsibly" and would likely continue to curb attacks.
ISLAMIC LAW?
Olmert's office issued a statement on Thursday quoting him as rejecting talks with a Palestinian administration that includes Hamas, but he had not spoken out publicly on the issue until the cabinet meeting.
Israel and the Palestinians have not held peace talks in five years and a U.S.-backed "road map" to a settlement has been stalled by violence and by violations by both sides.
In Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, a local Hamas leader, Mahmoud Ramahi, ruled out political talks with Israel but not contacts with Israeli officials on public works and health issues affecting daily life.
"We were forced to do these things in the past because we live under occupation. We will still live under occupation even if we are in the government," Ramahi said.
Ramahi told Reuters that Hamas had no immediate plans to try to impose Islamic law in the West Bank and Gaza.
"When we get a state, we will leave it to the people to choose," he said, promising a referendum. "We believe that the people will choose Islamic rule, but this will be after liberation, not now."
Turmoil in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip since the election landslide has fueled fears of inter-Palestinian strife as Hamas tries to form a government and possibly take over security forces packed with Fatah loyalists.
Final results issued on Sunday by the Central Elections Commission revised from 76 to 74 the number of seats Hamas won in the 132-member parliament compared with 45 for Fatah.
A spokesman for Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Gaza called for a smooth transition of power but warned Hamas against removing any of Fatah members of the security services.
In southern Gaza, 9 Fatah officials, in charge of the faction's recruitment, social work and political activities in the area resigned in response to an election loss widely seen as punishment for years of corruption by the mainstream faction.
The officials, who control some 600 grassroots activists, called on members of Fatah's central committee and revolutionary council to do the same.
(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah)
posted by Marko at 1/29/2006 12:03:00 PM
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