Last update - 00:00 14/08/2007
Livni calls int'l attempts to mend Hamas-Fatah rift 'huge mistake'
By News Agencies
Israel said on Tuesday it would be a "big mistake" for the international community to try to bridge differences between Hamas Islamists and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah faction.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was responding to calls from Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and British parliamentarians for dialogue with Hamas, whose fighters routed Fatah and seized control of the Gaza Strip in June.
"I know that it looks tempting and I know that the international community is eager to see a kind of an understanding between Hamas and Fatah," Livni told a news conference with visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso.
"This is wrong. This is a mistake. Big mistake. Huge," Livni said, tapping the table for emphasis.
Israel and the United States have tried to isolate Hamas in Gaza while opening economic and political taps to support Abbas and his Western-backed government in the occupied West Bank.
Livni said the international community's role was critical and "any compromise with terror, any compromise with these extremists, can lead to undermining the new government in the Palestinian Authority".
"The idea is that now there is a chance in the dialogue between Israel and the new Palestinian government. We can reach something. It's there," Livni said.
Steny Hoyer, the majority leader in the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives, emerged from a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad voicing confidence Fatah would not seek a new unity pact with Hamas.
"Mr. Fayad made it very clear that Hamas could not be and would not be a partner in moving forward," Hoyer told reporters.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been under pressure from the Bush administration to take more concrete steps to bolster Abbas before a U.S.-sponsored conference on the long-stalled peace process expected to take place in November.
The goal is an agreement on statehood principles.
"The idea is to reach the widest common denominator between Israel and the Palestinians," Livni said.
To bolster Abbas, Olmert has started releasing frozen tax funds, freed some Palestinian prisoners and agreed to hold talks on "fundamental issues" for establishing a Palestinian state.
During their meeting last week, Olmert assured Abbas he would begin to remove some of the roadblocks that restrict Palestinian travel in the West Bank, Palestinian officials said.
But senior Abbas aide Saeb Erekat, who had expected to receive a roadblock removal plan from Defense Minister Ehud Barak this week, said, "They told us they're not ready yet. I'm really disappointed."
Japan's foreign minister pledges support for Abbas
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso on Tuesday pledged his country's support for Abbas, a day after Japan said it would resume direct aid to the moderate Palestinian government.
Japan has avoided providing direct financial assistance to the Palestinians since the Islamic group Hamas won an election and came to power in March, 2006.
Abbas expelled Hamas from the government two months ago, after the group's militants took over Gaza by force, and formed a new government of moderates that has won broad international backing.
Speaking alongside Livni, Aso said Japan would support Abbas in a visible manner.
On Wednesday, Livni and Aso will participate in a four-way meeting in the West Bank town of Jericho with their Jordanian and Palestinian counterparts.
At the Jericho meeting, Aso will officially present a $20 million Japanese aid package to the Palestinians and discuss a new Japanese plan known as the Corridor for Peace and Prosperity. The initiative seeks to boost economic cooperation and development between Israel and the Palestinians as a means of reviving the peace process.