GAZA: Palestinian PM Haniyeh returns to Gaza with unity deal

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh retuned to Gaza on Monday (February 12) after signing a power-sharing pact in Mecca last week. Haniyeh was due to deliver an address to the nation later on Monday to outline the agreements reached in the Saudi-brokered unity talks. "We will protect this agreement and they will be committed to implementing it and it will produce positive results for our people. We have laid down the basis of national unity and political partnership in Mecca and we will translate them on the ground here," Haniyeh told reporters at Rafah crossing in Gaza. He then left to his home in Gaza City where he was greeted with celebration shooting and a cheering crowd. Haniyeh was accompanied by his Foreign Minister Mahmoud a-Zahar who said the Palestinians hoped that the international community would lift an ongoing boycott, despite the upcoming government refusal to meet the Quartet's conditions. "We don't believe that the Quartet conditions are moral. These immoral principles led the Palestinian people for an internal Palestinian confrontation and now we are considering that such sanctions and boycott will reach an end if we succeed to reach our effort to establish the unity government and to dissolve the internal Palestinian confrontations," a-Zahar said. The Quartet, comprised of the United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations, demanded the Palestinian Authority to recognise Israel, halt violence and accept past agreements signed with the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation). Israel is considering suspending contacts with moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas if his new unity government with Hamas does not meet international demands, Israeli officials said on Monday. The Mecca agreement made no explicit commitment to recognise Israel. A letter from Abbas reappointing Haniyeh as prime minister contained a vague call to the movement to "abide by the interests of the Palestinian people" and "respect" past agreements and international law. A political adviser to Haniyeh said on Saturday the new government would not recognise the Jewish state. More than 90 Palestinians were killed in Gaza in factional warfare between late December and last week's unity deal. The unity deal and Israel's response could hamper U.S. efforts to revive long-stalled peace talks. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans a three-way summit with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem on Feb. 19.

ITN Source | February 12, 2007

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