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Palestinian Arabs

Israel gives thumbs down to new Palestinian government


By Ryan Jones
March 19, 2007

Israel's cabinet on Sunday voted overwhelmingly in favor of rejecting the newly-formed "Palestinian" unity government comprising Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his ministers noted that the platform of the new Palestinian Authority regime still fails to explicitly recognize Israel's right to exist or to renounce the use of terrorist violence.

In fact, the new government's platform safeguards the "right" of Palestinian Arab groups to execute "resistance" operations against Israeli Jews.

Said Olmert following the vote:

We can't have contact with members of a government that justifies resistance, or in other words, terror.

However, Olmert, against all evidence, has not given up on his friend Abbas, and said Israel will continue to talk with the "president."

Those talks, though, will for the time being focus solely on security and humanitarian matters. The diplomatic peace process is off the table, according to Olmert.

Meanwhile, the results of a public opinion poll published in The Jerusalem Post Monday morning showed that more than half of all Israelis do not support the government's decision, and want peace talks at least with the non-Hamas members of the new government.

While the Post's headline suggested that Israelis continue to desire talks despite their peace partners' adoption of a hostile platform, the poll results equally revealed that nearly half of all Israelis are now ready for a full break with the "Palestinian" leadership.

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