VARIOUS: Rejected by Israel and U.S., Palestinian government holds first meeting

The new Palestinian coalition cabinet holds its first session in Gaza City, while Israel vows to pursue an ongoing boycott. Newly appointed Palestinian minister of information says international response to the new Palestinian coalition government is making Israel "anxious." Hamas spokesman says there is division between the members of the Quartet of Middle East negotiators on how to relate to the new Palestinian government. A new Palestinian unity government, rejected by Israel as a peace partner, convened its first meeting on Sunday (March 18) in Gaza City. Members of the government, comprised of the Islamist Hamas and secular Fatah, say they hope their union can end factional violence and painful foreign sanctions. The meeting was headed by Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas. "We want to reach in the end to an independent Palestinian state. We congratulate our people and you also (the ministers) because of yesterday's trust," Abbas said. West Bank ministers who were forbidden from leaving for Gaza convened in the city of Ramallah and communicated with Gaza cabinet via video conference. One of the government's first priorities was to take actions in an effort an end to factional fighting that spurred the rival Hamas and Fatah groups to agree to a partnership. More than 300 Palestinians have been killed in factional warfare in the past year that has largely calmed since a Saudi-brokered unity deal last month between Islamist Hamas and the secular Fatah faction it beat in a January 2006 election. Government spokesmen said the re-establishment of an umbrella National Security Council, which will be open to membership by all factions, would help promote law and order. Mohammad Dahlan, a controversial Fatah leader has been named as secretary of the National Security Council, and an adviser of national security affairs to the government. "A presidential decree was issued appointing me as the adviser to the higher national security council and also as the secretary of this council. I had said in the past I would accept the position where the president would find me," Dahlan told reporters outside of the Palestinian presidential compound in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday convened his cabinet in Jerusalem earlier in the day. Olmert said Israel decided to shun the new Palestinian unity government, but would continue talking to Abbas, a policy promoted by Western peace mediators in hopes of a breakthrough. "The platform of the new government includes very problematic elements that cannot be acceptable to Israel or to the international community such as (perceiving) the resistance as a legitimate right, the use of terror, and as mentioned before, a refusal to recognise Israel. We have said in the past that we will continue to maintain contacts with the Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen (Abbas) but we will not be able to pursue contact with the government or its members considering the fact that this is a government which does not accept the international community conditions and perceives terror as a legitimate means to pursue its goals," Olmert said. Olmert added that the new Palestinian government needed to abide by guidelines set by the Quartet of Middle East mediators: recognising Israel; renouncing violence; and abiding by previous Israeli/Palestinian agreements. "We expect that the international community will not be misled by the creation of the unity government and continue to implement the same approach it has taken from start, which is isolating a government that does not meet the Quartet's conditions," Olmert said. Back in Gaza, newly installed Palestinian Minister of Information Mustafa Barghouti told reporters that Israel's position would not affect the new Palestinian government, and that the new government was encouraged by the international response it has already received. "The Israeli position will not stop this new national unity government from proceeding with its work. We are already witnessing the change of position in Europe. We're very surprised - we're very happy, and very appreciative of the Norwegian position. We got a congratulations letter today from the Italian government. Things are changing, and moving in the right direction, and that's why Israel is anxious," Barghouti said. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Reuters that there is division between the European Union, United States, and Quartet of Middle East negotiators about recognition of the new Palestinian government. Western countries have imposed economic and aid sanctions against the Palestinian Authority since Hamas swept to power after Palestinian elections in 2006. "There is a broken from of the unity of the European Union, and America, and the Quartet toward how to deal with this unity government. Norway yesterday clearly announced that she recognised this unity government and Norway will have to deal frankly with this government. And Japan, and Italy, and Spanish, and France, and China, and Russia - all of these - all of these countries clearly announced that she want to recognise the Palestinian unity government and they want to break the sanctions, and release of the siege against this unity. Now, the Israeli occupation isolate Israel from the world, and Israeli occupation now lost its support from the European Union," Barhoum said. The United States said on Sunday its ban on direct aid to the Palestinian government would remain in place, but the U.S. broke ranks with Israel by authorising contact with some non-Hamas members of the new coalition administration.

ITN Source | March 18, 2007