WE'LL TALK TO HAMAS IF IT RECOGNIZES ISRAEL: ISRAELI FINANCE, ECONOMY MINISTER

Nablus, 28 Jumadil Akhir 1435/28 April 2014 (MINA) – If Hamas recognizes Israel, then Israel could talk to the Palestinians, both Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday.

At the same time, if Hamas accepts the Quartet’s (UN, US, EU and Russia) terms – recognizing Israel, rejecting terror and acknowledging previous agreements – “it won’t be Hamas anymore, but today we don’t see that happening,” Lapid told Israel Radio.

“We don’t talk to Hamas because it’s a jihadist terror organization that wants to kill Jews, and as long as that’s what it is, we don’t have a reason to talk,” he stated. Al Ray quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

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Similarly, that afternoon, Bennett told the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem that the only conditions under which Israel would negotiate with Hamas would be if it accepts the agreements already reached between the Palestinian Authority and Israel and it renounces terror.

The Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas defended the reconciliation agreement signed with Hamas saying the agreement does not contradict peace talks with Israel.

The agreement drew sharp criticism from Israeli officials who said the move reveals the Palestinians’ lack of desire to achieve peace, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) stated in its website.

The Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Iyad Ameen Madani, added that the Palestinian reconciliation is an urgent need for the protection of the higher Palestinian interests and towers above all other interests and relations.

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Iyad Madani called on the international community to support the Palestinian national reconciliation efforts and provide the means for their success considering the role of such efforts in promoting peace and stability in the region.

“All efforts being made to reclaim legitimate Palestinian rights and establish the Palestinian state on the 1967 border with Al-Quds as its capital must emanate from a Palestinian entity united in its positions, decision, policies and objectives,” he said.

The Arab League said on Thursday that it backs Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the face of Israeli pressures following the signing of a reconciliation deal with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

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An Arab League statement quoted Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi as telling Abbas in a phone conversation that the pan-Arab body welcomes the reconciliation agreement between his Fatah movement, which rules the occupied West Bank, and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.

“This achievement [the agreement] will boost the Palestinian unity in the face of the serious challenges that face the Palestinian cause at this critical juncture,” the statement quoted al-Arabi as telling Abbas in the conversation, World Bulletin reported.(T/P04/P02)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)