The Palestinian cabinet meeting held on Monday, urged the European Union not to discriminate between Palestinian ministers, especially those of Hamas and Fatah, on basis of policy lines.
Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya, told his cabinet members “The Palestinian unity government acts as one team and can not be divided”.
In addition, the Palestinian government dismissed what it called European Union’s double-standard policy toward the Palestinian people’s democratic choice, describing such a policy as an unprecedented slam to democracy.
The European Union has declared a boycott of Hamas ministers in the unity Palestinian government but said it would rather deal with what it called ‘moderate ministers’, who accepted the Quartet’s conditions for acknowledging the Palestinian cabinet.
Angela Merkel, current president of the EU, met yesterday in Rammalla with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, while met no Palestinian minister, reiterating the EU’s plan not to deal with Hamas ministers.
The Middle East peace Quartet (United States, United Nations, European Union, Russia) has reaffirmed its demands that the new Palestinian government should recognize Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence and accept signed peace agreements before it wins international recognition.
Hamas, which formed a new unity government jointly with Fatah and other parliamentary blocs, has repeatedly announced it would not recognize Israel and renounce the Palestinian people’s right for self-defense against the continued Israeli occupation.
The government’s platform accepts past agreements between the Palestinians and Israel and accepts a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, in return for peace with Israel.
On the other hand, the cabinet meeting condemned Israeli plans to launch a massive military attack on the Gaza Strip, under the pretext of undermining growing Hamas weaponry.
Israeli still maintains a grip military occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, while it contiues to control Gaza’s main crossing points, airspace and sea, despite disengagement from Gaza in 2005.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), came to power after it overwhelmingly won last January’s democratic elections across the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem under monitoring of international observers.
