U.S. to Egypt: Fatah-Hamas deal undermines Israel-PA talks

in the last 90 years paper and hot air have made great piles and braindead after braindead follows the same impossible path ! the usa shot itself in the foot calling for elections in the pa areas which confirmed for all time there are no arab partners for peace ! when relity finally sets in in 2013 when the next president takes office achange of direction might work !

For how long the World will remain blind !?

So we can go back and blame muslims and Islam for not surrendering a state that has no defined boundaries, strong and arrogant. All you need now is a weakling Arab leadership, yet strong to shut it's people, whom if they revolt we can accuse as terrorist. No wonder they hate us.

Noam, I do not deny the right of Mexico to have a government. Israel will never allow any Palestinian government. And thus, Israel has no right to complain about Palestinians who fight back against oppression. When some nation - ANY NATION - adopts the position of the Nazis that NO OTHER NATION has the right to exist - then that nation has forgiven resistance. There is NO nation, no ethnicity, no religion, in the world that need suffer extermination without the right to resist. Not Jews, nor Arabs. Got it?

You mean the "talks" where Israel stalls endlessly, makes impossible demands and issues dictates, all the while stealing more and more Palestinian land and claiming to want peace?

The Palestinians should be eternally denied a state of their own until the Palestinians have the moral guts to acknowledge the right of the Jewish state of Israel to live in peace, free from Islamic terrorist attacks. The mandates of the international Quartet are not at all difficult to abide by.... But here we are, now at the close of 2009, the Palestinians, stateless, because Arafat walked away from peace talks in 2000. Almost ten years later, and the Palestinians STILL lack a leader with convictions to tell his people that Palestinian refugees will return to the Palestinian areas, while Israel will retain its Jewish character, its Jewish majority, as Israel must remain a homeland for the Jewish people. May God eternally bless and protect Israel and lead her from success to success.

"[T]he requirement that any palestinian government must abide by the conditions of the qaurtet is the only way that a lasting peace can be achieved between israel and the palestinians." What about the Quartet's condition that Israel freeze settlements? How convenient that you and Mitchell require that only the Palestinians fulfil their obligations.

"George Mitchell...told him the United States would not support an agreement not aligned with the principles of the Quartet." Translation: The United States would not support an agreement not aligned with the principles of Israel.

While we're here, I'd like to point out what I think is the reason for the US objection to this unity deal. If I'm not mistaken, US officials are legally barred from dealing with "terrorists" and Hamas is on the official US list of terror groups. If they sign a unity deal with the Palestinian "government", it can then be interpreted that the whole of the PA is a terrorist affiliate. Even if the legalisms aren't clear, Hamas is viewed by the US and much of the West (including the EU and the UN, again if I'm not mistaken) as a terrorist enterprise. It would be VERY difficult for a US Administration to be seen negotiating with terrorists. Especially as the Republican party hammers Obama as being soft on terror.

Hamas will not sign or abide by any agreement that diminishes its current totalitarian control of Gaza. Those provisions mentioned in the article,- "A special committee with delegates from all factions was supposed to have assumed control of the Gaza Strip, reporting to Abbas. The Strip was also to see a new security force, staffed with members of all Palestinian factions." -are simply not possible. Hamas was using the Goldstone report to stonewall Fatah on the deal. Hamas always finds a reason at the 11th hour to avoid compromise. The US should have bitten its tongue on this, since reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah will never happen. This means Hamas can now safely scuttle the unity deal, citing Goldstone and the US position, and the blame will be carried by Abbas and Obama. Well played Hamas. Score 1 more for Hamas, 1 more against the Palestinian people.

I am certain that these conclusions can be drawn by educating yourself by newspaper reports. Something that I may suggest you should avoid in the future. Instead you should try to understand what the different parties want and who is strong enough to get it. Obama wants to unshackle the Palestians. He feels it is his part in history and feels he has enough support in the world to do just that. Israel has the choice; in one state or in two states. The Palestinians wants freedom.

but this isn't an agreement between the US and the Palestinians or between the Palestinians and Israel. The Hamas doesn't have to cave in on any points and doesn't have to recognice anyhting, just as the PA doesn't have to call Israel "A Jewish State" etc. It is a reconciliation agreement on paper alone between the two factions. A paper bunny, if you so like.

Dolphin, the roadmap has been roadkill for a long time. If Olmert would not proceed then Netanyahu will not proceed. The USA understands how essential a peace agreement is for the United State's future in the world. Israel understands that any peace agreement would end settlement expansion and thus end the expansion of Israel. Israel will not suffer restraint for the sake of the United States, and the US will not pressure Israel. The end of the roadmap has been reached. Folks should just accept reality.

A Hamas-Fatah accord is a PREREQUISITE to any negotiations that woudl hold. And if Hamas adopts the roadmap principles, it would be a GREAT BREAKTHROUGH. Everyone in the US knows this, and Haaretz is just carrying water for Bibi once again!!!

A Hamas-Fatah accord is a PREREQUISITE to any negotiations that woudl hold. And if Hamas adopts the roadmap principles, it would be a GREAT BREAKTHROUGH. Everyone in the US knows this, and Haaretz is just carrying water for Bibi once again!!!

The objection and the demand to delay the signing by the Hamas was over the Pa's spineless caving in on the referal of the Goldstone Report on Operation Cast Lead to the UNHRC. Now when the spineless Abbas has been forced by the WB streets and Hamas to indeed refere the report to the UNHRC, the Hamas would look rather funny if they came up with another excuse. So after Moussa Abu Marzouk visit to Cairo over the week-end Hamas seems to be willing to sign on the dotted line. The Egyptians wants the document signed and delivered by October 25. Abbas's outburst today kind of proves that that is what is in the making. Hamas won't fall for cheap tricks like that from Abu Mazen whom counted heavily on that the Hamas would never agree to sign on. The agreement isn't public yet, but the US have already objected to a number of clauses giving Hamas more than pasta to the children of Gaza. Another sure sign.

I just read that the Egyptians have said that the signing is "postponed for a couple of weeks", you should check your facts.

It was about time for the Palestinians to spit and make up. The signing will make the Americans claim that the PA is now speaking for all the Palestinians, so Benyamin has a partner. That is after all what this charade is all about. Officially the US can't agree to Hamas "getting this or that", but they are onboard and are welcome to:" to oppose those aspects of the agreement at any time". The Hamas needs food and shelter for its people so they are onboard. The PA has simply been told to get onboard, by the US, so they have no choice. So we will see this "reconciliation"(I think they call it)agreement signed before month end. Just the prospect of the two sides signing it apart, at different locations, will make the US look a bit stupid. However it is just the Hamas signature they crave, not its participation.

I see no logic is this move from the US to call for a continued divided Palestininan people other than solving half the problem in the West Bank only while letting Gaza suffer more. This sounds more like a pander from Israel that it will not deal with Hamas. Alternatively speaking Abbas needs to reconcile to gain any street-cred that he lost in fudging the goldstone report and unless he can regain it then Hamas will get more support and potentially get more votes in the West Bank come the next round of elections. In the long term this sounds like more time wasting, it's been nearly a year since OBama said he would fix the ME and still nothing. He's beginning to lose his shine here.

Barak Obama's total capitulation to Netanyahu destroyed any hope for peace. That the US is now trying to pin the blame on someone else, anyone else, than Bibi 'NO WAY' Netanyahu and Barak 'Yass massa' Obama is powerful proof that the US knows the game is over.

As a black West Indian who invested faith in Obama, I am ashamed at what I am reading. Sad to say, this story does not represent change. Obama needs to show a new vision, not a rehash of George Bush. The idea of Gaza included in a peace deal without Hamas which controls the territory is laughable. Is the USA now prepared to invade and kill more Gazans? Obama, we would accept less fluency of language and more potency.

"Mitchell made clear...recognition of the State of Israel, acknowledging earlier agreements and renouncing terrorism" Recognition was required by the PLO, they gave it decades ago, de facto. It mattered little. Earlier agreements are widely understood to be part of the problem Obama and Mitchell are wrestling with today. Oslo did not specifically address settlement building at all. Israel ruthlessly exploited that deliberate loophole and today there are another couple hundred thousand settlers in the West Bank and we are told that a letter from George Bush gives them permission to stay indefinitely! Meanwhile Israel has the right to keep on building and won't even discuss Jerusalem, which all members of the quartet will presumably expect them to negotiate over? Yet Hamas 'have' to sign up to Oslo, which reinforces all the above, before their 2006 election victory can be acknowledged? We are also told that civil strife in Gaza is the preferred option for the US[we know it is for Israel]rather than reconciliation. If only they could buy off Hamas as easily as they have Abbas. In reality, the proposed Hamas Fatah deal has a good deal more chance of success than any illusory talks between Abbas and Israel have of achieving anything concrete. No matter how much money the Americans ply Fatah with, who is going to protect these corrupt Fatah quislings and their families even if they were to get their quasi State?

Mate, would you like to leave in Texas if Hamas controlled New Mexico? Mate, wouldn?t that be an issue more to do with people living in New Mexico? If they are happy with it I see no reason why Texas, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Mexico shouldn?t be.

The US demands that the Palestinians recognize Israel, denounce violence and agree to past treaties. But we don't demand that Israel does the same. Israel continues violence against Palestinians, doesn't recognize a separate Palestinian state and doesn't abide by past agreements, especially a linkage between the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It is in everyone's best interest for Hamas and Fatah to form a unity government, but Israel prefers a fractured, divided Palestinian government that they can more easily control.

Please Marc, explain to me and all posters, what is America's interest in supporting ANY Israel government. It is unthinkable that it is only due to Aipacs influence. Thank you.

For me it seems pretty strange that the US is letting Israel have a minister of foreign affairs who is an outspoken racist and who doesn't agree with international regulation, violating them himself; while not accepting a solution to a deadlock which lasted for way too long and affected the people much too hard just because of Hamas.

"Mitchell made clear...recognition of the State of Israel, acknowledging earlier agreements and renouncing terrorism" Recognition was required by the PLO, they gave it decades ago, de facto. It mattered little. Earlier agreements are widely understood to be part of the problem Obama and Mitchell are wrestling with today. Oslo did not specifically address settlement building at all. Israel ruthlessly exploited that deliberate loophole and today there are another couple hundred thousand settlers in the West Bank and we are told that a letter from George Bush gives them permission to stay indefinitely! Meanwhile Israel has the right to keep on building and won't even discuss Jerusalem, which all members of the quartet will presumably expect them to negotiate over? Yet Hamas 'have' to sign up to Oslo, which reinforces all the above, before their 2006 election victory can be acknowledged? We are also told that civil strife in Gaza is the preferred option for the US[we know it is for Israel]rather than reconciliation. If only they could buy off Hamas as easily as they have Abbas. In reality, the proposed Hamas Fatah deal has a good deal more chance of success than any illusory talks between Abbas and Israel have of achieving anything concrete. No matter how much money the Americans ply Fatah with, who is going to protect these corrupt Fatah quislings and their families even if they were to get their quasi State?

Mate, would you like to leave in Texas if Hamas controlled New Mexico?

As a dedicated reader of your newspaper, I can tell you that it's one of the best sources for relaible information on Mideast. This is what I tell me followers in the USA. (Thanks Mirvat)

Can't find anything more from any other news source. IMENC only reports that Haaretz is telling this story. One might think somebody would have told somebody in the PA or PLO. This rings true like the fantasies about Obama's imminent capitulation to Netanyahu.

undermine what ,dah!

Just papering over the differences between Fatah and Hamas will not do any good. There has to be a functional unified deomocratic leadership if Palestine is to be a functional peaceful state, and Mitchell is right in pointing out the flaws of the proposed agreement. It's not enough for Hamas to stop knee capping and repression. It must accept Israel, honor previous agreements, abandon violence, stop persecuting Christians and others, and attempt to join the modern era and forget about medieval Islamic fundamentalism, cease teaching hate, etc. No handshake or piece of paper is going to attack those profound flaws in Hamas, nor correct chronic corruption in Fatah. Israel can improve too, but both sides must begin to clean house before there's a joint peace negotiation of any meaning.

How will any outcome of PA-Israel talks be honored by the Palestinians if they don't end their civil war? The last time I checked PA doesn't control Gaza...

the requirement that any palestinian government must abide by the conditions of the qaurtet is the only way that a lasting peace can be achieved between israel and the palestinians.

This appears to be a Haaretz exclusive story so far. I haven't seen it yet anywhere else. One might think somebody would have told the Palestinians or one of their news agencies. This reads like one of the stories about Obama being on the cusp of capitulating to Netanyahu.

I did not even need to finish reading the article, "divide and conquer" at it's best

There can be no peace without the participation of Hamas. Fatah and Hamas need to resolve their differences and to hell with what the US expects or wants. It is most unfortunate that both, Fatah and Hamas are too mired in their own manure to realize this. How in God's name are Palestinians supposed to rebuild their lives when the Palestinian house is divided and broken!!!???

Or is it only the Palestinians? Even the least astute observer knows that hamas must be part of the solution (thanks to Israel)...what does that say about Mitchell

First, my government claims there is no Palestinian partner and points to the Hamas-PA situation as the proof of that. The Americans also indicate that unity is required. The Europeans say the same. Now, PA-Hamas reconciliation is about to happen but the US torpedoes it to smithereens. This is absolutely insane. There will be no peace without Hamas. You cannot ask the occupied and the oppressed to give to the occupier and the oppressor. You cannot ask the Palestinians to give in before negotiations start and before getting their own state. This is totally ridiculous. Mr. Obama, we?re disappointed in you. You?re bending totally to AIPAC?s and GOI?s pressure. That is not how peace is achieved. Peace requires courage. We know that this is lacking in the GOI today, unlike at the time of Mr. Rabin. Show some courage, Mr. Obama. Pressure Israel so we can have a just and lasting peace at last, a peace where Israel and Palestine live in security and respect. Peace NOW!!!

It seems that the Obama administration believes it's problem is Hamas. Anyone in the region realizes the problem is not Hamas, but it's Israeli sponsor, Likud. Those of us with any sense of reality understand that Obama has already defeated himself. And that defeat has nothing to do with any unity between Hamas and Fatah. Israel will never accept ANY government of a free Palestinian nation. It does not matter whether that government includes Hamas or not. The fact that it is a Palestinian government is sufficient to cause it's rejection as a 'partner in peace.' Obama has accomplished NOTHING but proving to the Israeli right that he is an idiot, a fool, a knebish to be treated with total contempt and destroyed at leisure.

... Israeli Government... Nor, I am sure, from Obama. I am, by now, more and more convinced that most foreign policy coming out of Washington that is related to the Israel-Palestinian conflict is not even discussed with Obama. He is probably incapable to handle it, coming up with ridiculous ideas; his entourage probably explains that to him; so, he simply delegates the foreign team to do whatever they want. The result is that much of America's foreign policy has nothing to do with his original ideas. He screwed up, making beautiful speeches leading nowhere, extending "hands", got a Nobel Prize for it, became a laughing stock in Iran (where Russia is actually doing things) and North Korea (where China is doing things); and doing nothing in our neck of the woods. In the meantime America is talking of sanctions here, sanctions there,...and talking... and talking...

...a Bush official?

So keeping the Palestinians Divided is worthy of the nobel peace prize ?

Engaging all of the representatives of the Palestinian people would add legitimacy to the peace process, not detract from it. One gets the impression that the US would prefer to avoid dealing with Hamas (notwithstanding their getting the majority of the popular vote), who will not acquiesce as readily to Israel's "generous" conditions.

So the PA had to abide by previous agreements (recognition), but Israel gets a free pass on the settlement freeze requirement? Complete hypocrisy. The "peace process" is a farce.

The reconcilliation between Hamas and the PA ii a Palestinian need. If it materializes and holds it will advance the cause of the Palestinians, stop the sapping of their struggle to realize their national interests and strengthen their position vis-a-vis Israel. These goals are an anathema to Israel which relies exclusively on a policy of divide and conquer. Buying into it makes no sense and against the US interests in the Arab world. The Palestinians need to shore up their divisivness, insist on implementing the recommendations by the Goldstone report, including their own investigation into Hamas violation of human rights and then move on with a unified plan and a single voice to confront Israel on the diplomatic front. They will make plenty headway. They should have done it 62 years ago!

this is rediculous....obama is asking an un-elected man who couldn't win a vote for dog catcher to start peace process with natanyahoo who has said he doesn't want peace?.....this is not the change i voted for...this is idiocy

The Palestinians know not to trust each other.