WEST BANK: Polish President Lech Kaczynski meets Abbas in Ramallah

Polish President Lech Kaczynski visited his counterpart the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas at his Ramallah headquarters in the West Bank on Wednesday (September 13). The polish president is in the region for a four day trip and on Tuesday (September 12) he laid a wreath at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Memorial Museum after a series of meetings with the Israeli leadership. Kaczynski comes at a time in which some major developments are unfolding in Palestinian politics with the formation of a national unity government in the making. Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, agreed on Monday (September 11) to form a unity government on the basis of a document drafted by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The prisoners' manifesto, seeming to imply recognition of Israel, mentions a 2002 initiative that calls for Israel to return all territories captured in the 1967 Middle East war, the establishment of a Palestinian state and a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem in exchange for peace. When asked about the national unity government and its political discourse and candidate for the prime minster position Abbas told reporters at the news conference that all will be published soon. "We have agreed yesterday regarding the indicators and limitations of the political course, which the government will follow. These outlines will be announced at a later time. As for who will be the prime-minister, surely the majority and the parliament will have to decide, and I'm not telling secrets if I say that the majority in the parliament nominates Ismail Haniyeh," Abbas said at a news conference in Ramallah. Palestinians hope the creation of a unity administration will lead to the lifting of a Western aid embargo imposed after Hamas took power in March following a surprising win over Fatah in January elections. Hamas has also faced widespread strikes by government employees, demanding wages largely unpaid since March. Political analysts said public discontent helped spur the group to seek a partnership with Fatah. A "Quartet" of mediators -- the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia -- have said aid to the Palestinian government would resume only after it recognised Israel, renounced violence and abided by existing peace deals. But some Western diplomats and analysts believe the European Union might settle for less than Washington and reach out to non-Hamas ministers in a new government to get funds flowing. Israel has said it would not talk to any Palestinian government that does not accept the three conditions laid down by the Quartet. Officials said it could take two weeks for a new Palestinian government to take shape. Kaczynski told the news conference that Warsaw has pledged to send more troops as part of the international force deployed in Lebanon, following the recent conflict with Israel. More than 200 Polish soldiers have been sent so far. Palestinian journalists asked the Polish president if Poland will resume aid to the Palestinians or play a role in peace making in light of the latest developments and the expected release of Shalit, an Israeli Corporal abducted and held in Gaza. "We are ready, we didn't even speak about the soldier. We are ready when it will be clear that our participation will be useful. We don't want to force anything on anybody. You realize that there is a so called "Quartet", as president Abbas has mentioned. I didn't come to the Middle East to forcefully try to take on a role which is not necessary to fulfil," Kaczynski said.

ITN Source | September 15, 2006

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