Choose Hamas or peace with Israel, Netanyahu tells Abbas

Phoenix Herald Tuesday 7th February, 2012

JERUSALEM - Israel has slammed the peace accord between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah to form a new unity government in the West Bank and Gaza, saying that peace and Hamas "do not go hand in hand".

The reconciliation agreement was signed in Doha, Qatar, Monday by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the exiled Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, voicing his unhappiness over the deal, said that Abbas must choose between a treaty with Hamas "or peace with Israel".

Israel regards Hamas as a terrorist organization.

According to the deal, signed in the presence of Qatar Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Abbas will head a unified transitional government for the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"Hamas is a terror organization that strives for the elimination of Israel, and leaning on Iranian support," Netanyahu told a Likud party meeting.

"I have said many times before that the Palestinian Authority must choose between an alliance with Hamas and peace with Israel," he said, adding, "Hamas and peace do not go hand in hand."

The deal seeks to end more than four years of separate governments in the Gaza Strip, run by Hamas, and in the West Bank areas that were governed by Abbas' Palestinian Authority, which is backed by the West.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has also urged Abbas not to abandon talks with Israel.

In a phone call to Abbas, Ban said that "the two tracks" of Palestinian reconciliation and the negotiations with Israel should not be seen as "contradictory".

Abbas sought to give the accord a pan-Arab perspective when he said, after signing the accord, that Palestinian reconciliation was no longer an issue of Palestinian interest, but also an Arab interest.

Arab countries and Turkey have been pressuring Hamas to distance itself from the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, which has been facing international criticism over the killings of hundreds of anti-government protesters.

Hamas, which has maintained its headquarters in Damascus and received funds and military support from Syria, has of late been distancing itself from its patron.