Aness Suheil Barghoti
17 October 2017•Update: 18 October 2017
JERUSALEM
Israel will not negotiate with Palestinians until Hamas has been disarmed, Israeli security Cabinet announced on Tuesday night.
The announcement also listed a number of other conditions under which Israel said it would politically engage with the Palestinian side.
“The Israeli government will not politically negotiate with a Palestinian government in which Hamas, a terrorist organization calling for the annihilation of Israel, takes part in,” the Israeli Prime Minister Office said in a statement.
“Hamas must recognize Israel as a Jewish state and cease terrorism as per the Quartet's terms, dismantle its military wing, release the Israelis soldiers who have been held in Gaza and cut its ties with Iran,” it said.
Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the Israeli announcement would not change the official Palestinian position to move forward with reconciliation efforts.
“Ending the Palestinian division and moving forward with the Palestinian reconciliation is a supreme Palestinian interest,” Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.
On Thursday, Hamas and Fatah signed a landmark reconciliation agreement in Cairo aimed at ending 10 years of deep inter-Palestinian political division.
Under the deal, the Ramallah-based Palestinian unity government will assume political and administrative responsibility for the Gaza Strip no later than Dec. 1.
The West Bank and the Gaza Strip have remained politically and administratively divided since 2007, when Hamas wrested control of the strip from Fatah following several days of bloody street fighting.
