Netanyahu to Abbas: Choose Hamas or peace

AL-QUDS

In his first comment on a deal between rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that whoever chooses Hamas does not want peace.

Netanyahu said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has to choose between making peace with Israel and making peace with Hamas, describing the Islamist movement as a "terrorist" organization that wants to destroy Israel.

He was quoted by Israeli TV as adding that as the Palestinians and the Israelis talk about an extension of a peace negotiations deadline, Abbas had chosen Hamas, not peace with Israel.

Commenting on the deal, Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said by signing the reconciliation deal, the Palestinian Authority had turned into a terrorist organization.

Israel cancels meeting with Palestinians on Hamas reunion

Israel on Wednesday cancelled a scheduled meeting with Palestinian negotiators on the background of a reconciliation deal between rival Fatah and Hamas groups.

"Israel cancelled the negotiation meeting that was supposed to take place this evening," Israeli government spokesman Ofir Gendelman was quoted by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth as saying.

It was not immediately clear whether the Israeli decision includes negotiations with the Palestinian side as a whole.

Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Ze'ev Elkin claimed that the deal between Hamas and Fatah aims to destroy Israel.

Prospects for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians appeared to crumble in late March after Israel refused to release 26 Palestinian prisoners despite earlier pledges to do so.

In retaliation, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas formally applied for Palestinian membership in 15 U.N. conventions.

The latest developments come only a few weeks before an April 29 negotiation deadline for the U.S.-sponsored peace talks.

Abbas says reconciliation, peace do not contradict

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that there is no contradiction between a reconciliation deal his group signed with the resistance movement Hamas and peace talks with Israel.

"We are committed to making peace," Abbas said in his first comment on the deal.

"An internationally and Arab-backed reconciliation will boost Palestinian negotiators on achieving the two-state solution," Abbas was quoted by the official Palestinian news agency as saying.

Earlier Wednesday, Hamas and Fatah hammered out a reconciliation deal in the Gaza Strip, bringing to an end a rift that persisted between the two Palestinian movements since 2007

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