JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s foreign minister says a peace deal with the Palestinians is impossible after rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a unity government.
Avigdor Lieberman told Israel Radio on Thursday that Israel should resist pressure to resume talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Lieberman says Abbas is involved in “political terror” and reached the deal Hamas in order to thwart peace talks.
Israel and the West consider Hamas a terrorist group.
The Palestinian factions have been split since Hamas seized the Gaza Strip from Abbas’ forces in 2007. It remains unclear how the unity plan would succeed since past attempts have repeatedly failed.
The U.S. condemned the agreement announced on Wednesday, and Israel canceled a planned meeting between Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators.
Because Israel doesn’t want the Palestinian people cooperating? Keeping Hamas isolated in Gaza for years hasn’t brought Israel to the negotiating table. Perhaps working with Hamas could moderate their group, and perhaps that is not in Israel’s true interests…
Hamas isn’t “considered” a terrorist group…it is one. The Palestinians made a statement when the selected Hamas to lead them. That statement was we don’t want piece we want to kill. Israel made the same statement when they elected Netanyahu. They want hostility.
There has never a better time for the USA to get out of that mess then now. None of those folks are serious about peace.
Should the Palestinians refuse to talk to the Israelis because some Israelis in the government oppose the two state solution and advocate the violent expulsion of the Palestinians from the West Bank and East Jerusalem?
Should the Palestinians refuse to negotiate because some Israelis view Rabin’s assassin as a hero and threaten a similar fate to any Israeli leader who agrees to two states?
Moderating Hamas, which is unlikely, is not the issue.
What ultimately matters is joint security agreements among Israel, Egypt, and the legitimate Palestinian government of a Palestinian state to deal with Hamas terrorism.
Models include the security cooperation between Britain and Ireland to deal with the extremists who repeatedly and unsuccessfully committed terrorism to derail the peace.
Boy, not like you are painting with a broad brush there or anything. Palestinians elected Hamas which means they wanted to kill? Insane. Netanyahu won (barely) so no Israelis want peace? Ridiculous. Does the fact that Americans voted for George W. Bush twice (really just once) mean that we all support endless war in the Middle East? Those sort of generalizations are absurd and are usually indicative of someone simply not knowing what they are talking about.