Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, March 18, 2007. Olmert
ruled out on Sunday resuming talks on Palestinian statehood with President
Mahmoud Abbas and urged the international community to shun his new
government with Hamas. (Xinhua/Reuters photo) Gallery>>>
JERUSALEM,
March 18 (Xinhua) -- With a firm position against the newly-born Palestinian
national unity government, Israel is seeking a united front within the
international community on abroad boycott of the Palestinian coalition.
Israel will not pursue contacts with the Palestinian
coalition in its entirety, including non-Hamas ministers, Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert vowed on Sunday.
"We expect that the international community will not
be misled by the creation of the coalition government and to persist with its
position of isolating the government that rejects the principles set out by the
Quartet," he added.
During the inauguration of the new coalition on
Saturday, Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime
Minister Ismail Haneya (Hamas) delivered speeches heralding different agendas.
While Abbas called on Israel to engage in serious
peace talks with the new coalition, Haneya said his government would support
armed resistance to Israel and the right of return for thousands of Palestinian
refugees.
The Israeli cabinet on Sunday voted overwhelmingly to
uphold its boycott of the new Palestinian government, hoping that the
Palestinians would see no way out but to adopt the Quartet's three principles.
The quartet, which groups the United Nations, the
European Union, the United States and Russia, has urged the Palestinian
government to recognize Israel, renounce violence and respect the agreements
signed between the Palestinians and Israel.
To avert the collapse of the international
community's boycott, Israel launched a diplomatic offensive over the weekend.
Officials from the Foreign Ministry told their foreign counterparts that the
Palestinian unity government did not accept "the three benchmarks" required by
the Quartet.
For Israel, its primary concern now is that as the EU
or other Western countries begin to have official contacts with non-Hamas
ministers, it could then lead to the legitimization of the unity government.
However, it is evident that Israel would be difficult
to persuade even Washington to boycott Fatah or independent ministers of the
Palestinian unity government.
The U.S. consulate in Jerusalem has announced that
Washington would continue to shun the Hamas ministers but permit contacts with
non-Hamas members.
"There are not any conflicts between the U.S. and
Israeli position toward the new Palestinian government," Daniel Ayalon, former
Israeli ambassador to the United States, told Xinhua.
He said that contacts with those non-Hamas
Palestinian officials will help the U.S. to assess the situation and this would
not result in the lift of boycott or sanction, which concerns a clear stance on
the whole Palestinian unity government.
The EU on Saturday even welcomed the establishment of
the Palestinian unity government, though it has not recognized it, adopting a
wait-and-see attitude. The EU said it would closely scrutinize the new
government's platform and actions.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has identified two main
trends in the EU stand. Ireland and Spain have called for an unconditional
normalization of relations with the new Palestinian coalition, while the British
are promoting a proposal to maintain contact with Fatah ministers only.
Meanwhile, the French Ministry has invited new
Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr, an independent minister, for a visit
to France, noting that "it was important to send a signal of encouragement very
quickly."
Ayalon held that "it is very important to keep a
united position" and Israel hopes that the EU will be on the same page on this
issue.
A spokeswoman for Olmert on Saturday also reiterated that Israel will not "recognize or deal with the new unity government, and expects the international community to stand strong in its demand that the new government accept the three principles."
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