Quartet: Palestinian gov't must recognize Israel

As I wrote about yesterday, the Palestinians have come to a power sharing agreement between Hamas and Fatah and are setting about forming this new government.

The thing that most worried me was that the Israelis would seize on the fact that Hamas had only implicitly recognised the State of Israel, rather than explicitly recognising her as the Quartet were demanding.

And a report in today's Ha'aretz seems to confirm my worst fears:

Meanwhile, Israeli officials said the coalition deal failed to meet Western conditions to end the sanctions and initial reaction from the United States and Europe was muted.

"The conditions have not been met. This is not something we can live with," said one Israeli official, on condition of anonymity.

In other words the Israelis are going to attempt to insist that the disgraceful sanctions currently crippling the Palestinian economy should be kept in place.

The Israelis appear to be doing everything they can to cause strife amongst the Palestinians at the moment, including a highly incendiary dig around the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the timing of which is insensitive to say the least considering the current situation in the Palestinian government.

Thankfully the Russians are calling for sanctions to be lifted in the wake of the new agreement, but with Israel insisting that recognition must be forthcoming before the Quartet do so, the Americans will be sure to insist that these barbaric sanctions remain in place.

We got a hint of the possible American reaction from the New York Times:

"The international community has made it clear that in order to be able to have a broader relationship with the Palestinian Authority government, that those principles are going to have to be met," The New York Times quoted Casey as saying. He added that officials were still studying the accord.

For too long now the international community has allowed Israel to place false barriers that the Palestinians must jump over before they will engage in any form of peace talks. The international community needs to recognise that the Israelis have managed to find reasons not to engage with the Palestinians for decades and this call for "recognition" is simply another red herring to avoid the Israelis having to seriously negotiate.

The simple truth is that the situation in Palestine (when Hamas and Fatah were fighting in the street) suited the Israelis, as they would rather these groups fought each other rather than themselves.

But the international community also needs to recognise the part that we played in creating the conditions for civil war in Palestine. The situation in Gaza and the West Bank is desperate and the sanctions that we have supported have led to genuine hardship for millions of Palestinians. Without any hope of a political solution, violence will ensue.

And however much the US claim that Israel are merely looking for a "moderate" in order to begin negotiating, it will not be lost on the Palestinians that Abbas was in charge for a full year after Arafat died and that no negotiations were forthcoming. Once again, Israel managed to find a reason not to negotiate.

Indeed, if Israel's past behaviour is any indication of her future intent then it would matter not a jot if Hamas explicitly recognised Israel's right to exist, as the Israelis would quickly find another reason why they could not engage with the Palestinians. They have been playing this tune for forty years.

The Russians have the right idea. We must stop the sanctions and encourage dialogue between the two sides. The French have also indicated that they view the agreement positively. Bush will, of course, attempt to please the Israelis as usual, but he will find it hard to keep the Quartet on side if he sticks rigidly to the line that the Israelis are encouraging him to take.

The Palestinians have made an historic compromise. If it is not rewarded then there is a real danger that factional fighting could break out again.

And I am not at all convinced that this is not what the Israelis secretly want.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called on the international community Thursday to ensure that Israel's right to exist is respected by any Palestinian government that emerges from the talks.

Speaking in Madrid, Livni said the three requirements were not negotiable and applied to any future Palestinian governments.

"We expect the international community to stick to its own requirements that were stated after the elections which Hamas won," she said.

It's a red herring designed to obstruct dialogue and it deserves to be treated as such.

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tag: Israel, Palestine, power sharing agreement, Hamas, Fatah, Abbas, Quartet, sanctions, blockade,