Repercussions Over Palestinian Unity Continue…

Shock waves touched off by last week’s announcement of a unity agreement between the Fatah and Hamas factions continue to reverberate from Jerusalem to Ramallah and all points west. While Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas still insists that he is willing to return to talks with Israel under the auspices of US Secretary of State John Kerry, he is also attaching preconditions to the offer: release by Israel of prisoners; freezing construction in post-1967 Israeli communities; and negotiations beginning with the issues of borders.  In a speech in Ramallah, Abbas also reiterated his rejection of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s demand that he recognize the Jewish character of the state of Israel. Israeli officials, already livid over the announced alliance with the Hamas terrorist organization, accused Abbas of offering a deal that he knows will not be accepted. The Palestinians insist Israel has nothing to complain about because the negotiations are technically with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and not the government. Therefore, they argue, nothing in terms of the parties negotiating has changed. On Saturday, Abbas told the PLO executive council that the policy toward Israel will not change under the unity government. He declared that, “The upcoming government will obey my policy. I recognize Israel and reject violence and terrorism, and recognize international commitments.”  There are those on both sides who argue there is little reason to believe the latest reconciliation agreement has any more chance of being implemented than the two that were signed in 2012 – one in Doha and one in Cairo. Meanwhile, although Abbas’s statement calling the Holocaust the “most heinous crime of the modern era” is being applauded by many, one pundit suggested to The Media Line that the PA chief is taking a chapter from the “Rohani” book, referring to the charm offensive that accompanied the Iranian’s ascent to the presidency and its notably positive results.