"Top Palestinian official to form government with Hamas" by Isabel Kershner | New York Times May 30, 2014
JERUSALEM — President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority on Thursday asked Rami Hamdallah, the prime minister, to form a new government of national reconciliation, a move that could send Israeli-Palestinian relations into a tailspin and would disrupt any prospect of a resumption of US-brokered peace talks.
The decision to form a new government is the result of a unity pact reached last month between Abbas’s Palestine Liberation Organization, which is dominated by the mainstream Fatah faction, and its rival, Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza. Palestinian officials said the new government, made up of politically independent professionals, would probably be announced within days.
Under the terms of the agreement last month, Palestinian leaders agreed to do that within five weeks, and elections were to be held in about six months....
The possibility has already prompted stern warnings from Israel, which says it will not deal with a government “backed by Hamas,” even if the ministers themselves are not politically affiliated. Hamas has refused to recognize Israel, which, like the United States and the European Union, classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Not true.
"Hamas would respect any peace deal reached between Israel and Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, provided it is approved in a global Palestinian referendum.... Hamas would abide by any PLO negotiations"
I guess it's just a distortion then.
A Palestinian consensus government could also prove to be a new source of tension between Israel and the Obama administration, because of possible differences over how to deal with the new government.
“We think that by embracing Hamas, Abbas is increasing the levels of volatility and danger,” an Israeli government official said, requesting anonymity because he was speaking before a new Palestinian government had formally been announced. “We are concerned that Hamas will exploit the pact to strengthen its position in the West Bank.”
Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said a few more days were needed to finalize the government.
Other officials suggested that one or two ministerial appointments were still in dispute.
But the Israeli official added that once Abbas “consummates” his alliance with Hamas, he could be held accountable for any rockets fired against Israel by militants in Gaza.
“He will become an address for our response,” the official said, refusing to elaborate.
They really can't make it any clearer. Air strike headed Abbas's way.
The European Union, which gives substantial aid to the Palestinian Authority, has said it will support a new government of independent figures and continue direct financial assistance so long as the government upholds international principles of nonviolence, accepts previous obligations and agreements with Israel, and recognizes Israel’s right to exist.
Abbas has said that the government will adhere to these conditions. That is not enough for Israel, which insists on Hamas adhering to them as well.
Hamas said they would.
Israeli officials have said that they received a specific commitment in the past from the US administration that it backed Israel’s position of not negotiating or dealing with a government in which Hamas played a role unless Hamas accepted the principles laid down by world powers after the Islamic group won Palestinian elections in 2006.
Say again? So often I read they seized power.
But that claim appeared to be at odds with some more recent signals from Washington.
After the Palestinians announced their unity deal in April, Jen Psaki, a State Department spokeswoman, called the move “disappointing.”
Always Israel's bitch.
She then added that “any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognition of the state of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties,” without making any mention of Hamas.
“Clearly there are differences of opinion between Israel and the United States,” said Michael Herzog, a fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former military official and negotiator based in Israel.
Do you know who WINEP is, dear readers?
“Even if there were such understandings,” he said, referring to the Israeli assertions about a past commitment, “the US is not there today.”
Uh-huh!
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"Israel PM wants Palestinian government isolated" by Josef Federman | Associated Press June 02, 2014
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the world Sunday to shun the emerging Palestinian unity government because of its ties to the Hamas militant group, rejecting Palestinian pledges that it will be a government of technocrats that will accept peace agreements with Israel and renounce violence.
You guys are the ones being shunned.
And if Palestinians have to renounce violence so does Israel, right?
The comments by Netanyahu set the stage for what is likely to be a tough battle for international opinion.
Oh, no, I think international opinion is mostly on one side in this -- and it ain't Israel's. Thus beware the false flag.
Although Israel has made clear it will reject the new government, the reactions of the European Union and United States, which send the Palestinians hundreds of millions of dollars in aid each year, will be critical in determining whether it can survive and whether Israel will be forced to deal with it.
The world truly is getting sick of Zionist war-mongering and atrocities. Even their controlled lackeys are bucking their wishes.
Addressing his Cabinet Sunday, Netanyahu said the Palestinian government will ‘‘strengthen terrorism.’’
‘‘Hamas is a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel and the international community must not embrace it,’’ he said.
Then why did Israel help create it?
Hamas, Son of Israel
Israel's Dirty Secret
They don't want peace with Palestinians.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said over the weekend that he formally will present the new government on Monday, a move meant to end a seven-year rift between his Fatah movement and Hamas.
The Palestinians have been divided between two governments since Hamas wrested control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, leaving the president in charge only of autonomous areas of the West Bank.
Well, the ma$$ media knows they won elections so what is with the omissions and deception?
Btw, Hamas foiled a COUP ATTEMPT!!!!
The rift is deeply unpopular among Palestinians, and presents a serious obstacle to establishing a Palestinian state. The Palestinians seek the West Bank and Gaza, along with Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, for their state. Israel captured the three areas in the 1967 Mideast war.
Attempts at reconciliation have failed in the past, and officials reported last-minute haggling on Sunday. Khalil al-Haya, a top Hamas official in Gaza, said a disagreement over the Palestinian ministry for prisoners held by Israel threatened to delay Monday’s announcement.
But both Palestinian factions have incentives to finally repair ties.
Therefore, if anything happens to destroy it we have to ask who benefits?
Hamas is in the midst of a major financial crisis because of a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt, while Abbas is in need of an accomplishment after the collapse of peace talks with Israel in late April.
That's why Morsi was dumped and replaced by the new Mubarak Sissi.
Convinced that he cannot reach peace with Netanyahu, the Palestinian leader believes now is the time to get internal Palestinian affairs in order.
In order to rally international support, Abbas has pledged that the new government will consist solely of apolitical technocrats and will accept international demands to renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist.
The government is to be headed by Abbas’s prime minister, Rami Hamdallah, a British-educated university president. A statement issued by Hamdallah’s office Sunday denounced Netanyahu’s comments, saying they were part of a campaign intended to ‘‘cement the occupation by all means.’’
In the past, Israel has applied financial pressure by withholding tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians each month.
Think of the distorted arrogance of the sentence. Israel has so graciously collected revenue on behalf of Palestinians, as if they couldn't do it themselves.
I really do hope you understand why I am tired of this Zionist $will.
And during a short-lived Palestinian unity government in 2006 and 2007, the West withheld international aid to the Palestinians because of Hamas’s participation.
But it is not clear whether the international community will back his tough stance this time around. The United States and European Union have signaled that they are willing to at least give the new Palestinian government a chance.
So where is Israel going to carry out the false flag to convince those governments of reversal?
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"Abbas swears in new Palestinian government; Seeks to unite Gaza, West Bank as Israel objects" by Jodi Rudoren and Isabel Kershner | New York Times June 03, 2014
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Declaring that a “black page in history has been turned forever,” President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority swore in a new government on Monday intended to reunite the West Bank and Gaza Strip after seven years of political and social division.
“Today we restore our national unity, restore the unity of institutions,” Abbas said in a speech broadcast live after the new ministers took their oaths at his headquarters here. “We are all loyal to Palestine. We want to keep its banner hoisted high.”
The new government is part of the April pact between the Palestine Liberation Organization — dominated by Abbas’s secular nationalist Fatah faction — and the militant Islamic Hamas movement, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.
Disputes over the Cabinet’s composition played out until the last minute. Hamas leaders also threatened Monday morning not to support the new government, over a disagreement on how to represent Palestinians in Israeli prisons, although they ultimately acquiesced.
The dispute showed the delicate task Abbas has in balancing Palestinian politics and international diplomacy as he tries to maintain financial support for the government despite the fact that Hamas is deemed a terrorist organization by the United States, Europe, and much of the West.
The Palestinians are also bracing for punitive sanctions by Israel, which on Monday said it would hold the new government responsible for any attacks from the West Bank or Gaza.
I hold Israel responsible for anything a Jew does anywhere in the world.
It also said it would act “in the international arena against the participation of terrorist organizations in elections.”
“Today, Abu Mazen said yes to terrorism and no to peace,” the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement, using Abbas’s nickname.
“The state of Israel will not conduct diplomatic negotiations with a Palestinian government backed by Hamas, a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel,” he said.
If the Zionists truly wanted peace we would have it; all they are interested in is piece(s of Palestinian land).
The new Palestinian government is made up largely of lawyers, businessmen, and academics who are not formally tied to either Fatah or Hamas. They are charged with preparing for overdue elections in six months and integrating West Bank and Gaza institutions that have been operating independently during the seven-year schism.
It is led by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, a linguist and former university president, who has held the top post in the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority government for the past year.
Of the 16 ministers under him, three are women; four are Gaza residents, who were barred by Israel from attending Monday’s swearing-in; and about half served in the previous government, including the two deputy prime ministers.
The ceremony lasted about 10 minutes, as each minister swore to respect the law and serve the Palestinian people.
Afterward, Abbas addressed the public, promising that the government would follow his political program in support of a negotiated, two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinian officials said it would recognize Israel, renounce violence, and accept previous agreements with Israel, as required by world powers, principles Hamas continues to reject.
Do they? Even though they have observed a unilateral truce?
Abbas said in his speech that he had received “positive signs” from Washington about the new government and that Israel’s threats against it only “made us stronger and more committed in persisting.”
“We will not stand idle for the collective punishment against us and we will use all the means, diplomatic, political means, to respond to it,” Abbas said. “We are aware that we will face difficulties, but the train of reconciliation has set off, and we will not go back to conflict and schism again.”
In Gaza, Ismail Haniya, the leader of the outgoing Hamas government there, said, “Today we are leaving this government after seven years of steadfastness during which we faced political and economic problems.”
“We are leaving our chairs but not our role,” he said, adding that he was standing down “willingly and in response to our national responsibilities.”
The State Department has said that the United States, which is scheduled to provide $440 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority this year, will monitor the situation closely and judge any government based on its composition, policy, and actions.
The EU, which gives substantial aid to the authority, has said it will continue direct financial assistance so long as the new government is technocratic and upholds the international principles.
But Israel says the new government “rests on Hamas” and has called on the international community not to embrace it.
Hours before the swearing-in, Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s minister of intelligence and strategic affairs, told reporters in Jerusalem the new government was “illegitimate” and did not live up to the previous signed agreements with Israel.
One of the fundamental principles of the Oslo peace accords of the 1990s, he said, was that territory handed over to the Palestinians would be demilitarized.
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"Palestinians object to new settlements; Israeli plan comes in reaction to deal including Hamas" by Isabel Kershner | New York Times June 06, 2014
JERUSALEM — New Israeli plans for settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as retaliation against the new Palestinian consensus government backed by Hamas have added to tensions between Israel and Washington and prompted threats Thursday of countermeasures from Palestinian officials.
The Israeli Housing Ministry published bids late Wednesday for the construction of nearly 1,500 housing units in various settlements in what the housing minister, Uri Ariel, called “an appropriate Zionist response to the establishment of the Palestinian terror government.” He added in a statement that he believed the marketing of these units “will be just the beginning.”
How ominous.
Palestinian officials reacted furiously to the announcement. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the official spokesman for Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, said in a statement Thursday that the Palestinian leadership would “respond in an unprecedented way” to the Israeli step. He did not elaborate.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator in US-brokered peace talks, said in a statement, “We believe this latest announcement is a clear sign that Israel is moving toward a major escalation,” he said. “We are carefully studying and weighing our response.” He called on the world powers “to hold this Israeli government and its members accountable under international law.”
Good luck with that last one.
The move came against the backdrop of a dispute between Israel and the Obama administration about the new Palestinian government, which grew out of a recent reconciliation pact between the Palestine Liberation Organization, led by Abbas, and Hamas, the Islamist militant group that has controlled Gaza since 2007.
Israel has urged the world to shun the Palestinian government, which was sworn in Monday, on the grounds that it rests on the support of Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and much of the Western world and which refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
That is a very interesting position coming from a people who cry persecution at the drop of a hat, and whose nation was founded by terrorist thugs.
But the Palestinian Cabinet is made up largely of professionals who are not formally tied to either Abbas’ mainstream Fatah party or to Hamas and who have declared themselves committed to Abbas’ peaceful program and to international principles like the renunciation of violence and the recognition of Israel.
On that basis, the Obama administration says it will continue to work with the Palestinian government and provide aid to it while continuing to monitor it. The European Union and several other major countries have followed suit.
The new government is supposed to prepare for elections in about six months and is intended to reunite the West Bank and Gaza Strip after a bitter seven-year political schism.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that he was “deeply troubled” by the US decision to work with the Palestinian government, telling the Associated Press Hamas has murdered “countless innocent civilians” and “seeks Israel’s liquidation.” He said “the United States must make it absolutely clear” to Abbas that the pact with Hamas “is simply unacceptable.”
I'm wondering what false flag Israel is brewing for the U.S. that would top 9/11. A nuclear bomb blowing up in Chicago, perhaps? Would that convince Obummer to get back in line?
Israeli settlement activity has long been a source of friction between Israel and the United States.
Well, not that much.
The Obama administration has described settlements as “illegitimate,” and US officials have pointed to repeated Israeli announcements in the past few months advancing plans for thousands of housing units as a prime contributing factor to the failure of the US-brokered peace talks. Most countries consider the settlements a violation of international law.
But not a big deal to those who scream international law loudest.
Israel suspended the negotiations in late April after the Palestinians announced their reconciliation pact and days before talks were due to expire.
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And take a look at the maps:
Related: Memory Hole: Future Vision of Israel
Looks like the only solution to me at this point.
Those jwho always have a solution:
"New Palestinian unity cabinet deserves chance to work" June 07, 2014
There is little doubt that Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas carefully studied US law before he and the militant group Hamas announced their unity government this week. The new government, which will rule until elections are held, consists almost entirely of technocrats. None are active members of Hamas.That’s because Abbas does not want to run afoul of the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006. Passed in the wake of a Hamas parliamentary victory, the law states that no American aid can flow to the Palestinian Authority unless the president certifies that “no ministry, agency, or instrumentality” is effectively controlled by Hamas.
“They threaded the needle,” said Jonathan Schanzer, a specialist on Palestinian politics at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Related: Foundation for Defense of Democracies
"For those of you who haven't heard of this "foundation," it is one of the most influential and powerful of the Zionist lobbies which changed its name and sprung into action immediately after 9-11, the successor of PNAC. Another reflection of its power is the apparent unwillingness of the major media, such as the NY Times, to identify it for what it is."
We all know why that is; they are on the same page.
Although Hamas has agreed to the new government and helped select its members, none of the ministers actually represent the militant group. For this reason, Secretary of State John Kerry has pledged to work with the new cabinet, pointing out that key positions — including the prime minister, the two deputy prime ministers, and the finance minister — remain the same as the previous Palestinian government he has been working with.
So it looks as if aid to the Palestinians will keep flowing, at least for the time being. That’s a good thing. Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who blasted the unity deal, knows that cutting off all aid to the Palestinians would hurt rather than help the cause of peace and security.
It remains to be seen what the United States will do if Hamas sweeps the elections that are slated to be held in both Palestinian territories, Gaza and the West Bank, in six months. Even if that happens, Congress should avoid a wholesale halting of assistance. It is not in the interests of the United States or Israel to defund the security cooperation that has helped keep the territories safe, or to dismantle efforts to create more stable, prosperous Palestinian institutions.
Despite very valid concerns about Hamas, which has not renounced violence or recognized Israel’s right to exist, the end of seven years of infighting among Palestinians is a positive step. The bloody rivalry between Hamas and Fatah did little good and much damage. It made it harder to broker a peace deal, not easier, because Abbas only represented half of Palestinians at the negotiation table. Rather than working to destroy Palestinian unity, the international community should focus its efforts on making this new Palestinian government as successful, responsible, and accountable as possible.
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Time for me to kill this post.
