Hamas sees Quartet statement as sign of progress

Gaza, Sept 21: The ruling Hamas militant group said today a statement by the Quartet of W Asia peace mediators was an encouraging sign that could lead to the easing of a Western aid embargo.

Israel said the statement ''maintains the principle'' that any unity government between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction must recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim peace deals.

In its statement issued yesterday, the Quartet, composed of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, endorsed Abbas's efforts to establish a national unity government with Hamas, which is still officially committed to the destruction of Israel.

The Quartet said it hoped the platform of the unity government would ''reflect'' the three conditions, but stopped short of insisting that the new government explicitly meet them. The Quartet also urged Israel to hand over withheld tax revenues to the Palestinians.

''The decision by the Quartet ... is a progressive position, and we hope that this position will contribute to stopping all forms of political and economic siege,'' Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said.

Ahmed Youssef, political adviser to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, said the Quartet statement showed new ''political flexibility and understanding''.

Israel has said that it would consider releasing the tax revenues to the Palestinians and taking other ''positive steps'' if the new Palestinian government met the three Quartet conditions and secured the release of a captured Israeli soldier.

Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, said: ''It must be clear that only the determined insistence on these three benchmarks by the international community can strengthen Palestinian moderates.'' ''Giving legitimacy to the extremists that do not accept the three benchmarks can only undermine the position of the moderates,'' Regev added.

REUTERS