Following his Saturday meeting with the French President Jacques Chirac in France, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stated that the Palestinians and the Israelis must continue to hold talks and try to find a solution to the conflict.Following his Saturday meeting with the French President Jacques Chirac in France, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stated that the Palestinians and the Israelis must continue to hold talks and try to find a solution to the conflict.
Abbas said that both nations are partners for peace, and asked the international community not to subject the new Palestinian government to international sanctions and give it a chance to function.
The Palestinian President also said that “he had not lost hope for a lasting peace with Israel”, and that “no one can say that this issue is a hopeless cause”.
The Quartet committee of Middle East Peace, comprised by the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union, is currently divided on how to deal with the planned Palestinian unity government, which will be formed through a major coalition between Hamas and Fateh, in addition to some other factions who will have less shares.
Last Wednesday, the Quartet repeated it's earlier demands and conditions, and said that any Palestinian Government must recognize Israel, recognize the previously signed peace deal and renounce violence.
Israel said that the coalition deal does not meet the Quartet's demands, and launched an international campaign in an attempt to convince the West not to deal with the new government, and not to lift the international economic blockade.
The Palestinian Authority is currently on the brink of a financial collapse as a result of the US-led boycott. Poverty rates have significantly increased in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and hospitals are falling short of medicine and equipment.
On Thursday, the UN World Food Program reported that nearly half of Palestinians are unable to produce food, or do not have access to the food they need on a daily basis.
