Europeans tell Abbas govt must meet conditions

Jerusalem, Feb 26: European leaders told Palestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas that a unity government must clearly recognise Israel,renounce violence and accept interim peace deals for sanctions to end,Abbas aides said today.

''We have asked the Europeans to help us lift the sanctions buttheir response was that the Palestinian government must be clear in itsacceptance of the Quartet conditions,'' senior Abbas aide Saeb Erekatsaid after a European tour in which Abbas sought support for hispower-sharing deal with Hamas Islamists.

The United States, the European Union, Russia and the UnitedNations make up the Quartet of Middle East mediators. Western powerscut off direct aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas came topower in a January 2006 election.

A unity government deal, signed earlier this month by Abbas andthe Hamas movement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, contains a vague promise to''respect'' Israeli-Palestinian pacts.

But the deal, which calmed internal Palestinian warfare, does notcommit the incoming government to abiding by those pacts, nor torecognising Israel and renouncing violence as the Quartet has demanded.

Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz said a new government whichfailed to meet the demands would ''deepen the (diplomatic)stagnation.'' ''We will not recognise such a government and we will notgive it legitimacy,'' Peretz said in broadcast remarks.

Step Forward

Erekat and other Palestinian officials said the keyto ending the economic embargo was getting the United States to liftrestrictions on financial dealings with the new government, as well aspersuading Israel to release withheld Palestinian tax revenues.

Local, regional and international banks have balked attransferring funds directly to the Palestinian Authority since Hamasformed a government in March 2006. Bank executives say they fearrunning afoul of US sanctions against Hamas and being locked out of USfinancial markets.

Israeli officials have likewise said there were no plans torelease any additional tax revenues. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said aweek ago that he had reached agreement with US President George W Bushto keep the boycott in place until the Quartet conditions were met.

''They (European leaders) said the Mecca deal was a step forwardbut the Palestinian government must be clearer in their acceptance ofthe Quartet principles,'' Erekat said.

The European Union's external relations commissioner BenitaFerrero-Waldner today left for a visit to the region in a bid toencourage efforts to accept the principles.

Ferrero-Waldner explicitly held out the prospect of a resumptionof direct aid if a new administration abided by the Quartet'sprinciples.

She said the EU planned to expand aid to needy Palestinians through a current temporary mechanism which bypassed Hamas.

The unity deal has widened divisions within the Quartet.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told Abbas over theweekend that Paris would be ''disposed to co-operate'' with the plannedunity government, bucking US efforts to maintain the boycott.

Douste-Blazy did not say what French cooperation would entail, anddescribed the unity government deal as the start of a process that''will have to lead to the full recognition of Israel by all thePalestinian factions, first among them Hamas''.

President Jacques Chirac telephoned Saudi King Abdullah andEgyptian President Hosni Mubarak to restate French support for theMecca deal, Chirac's spokesman said.

Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel's destruction, has said it will never recognise the Jewish state.

Reuters>