Condi Rice arrived in Jerusalem tonight and worked to increase pressure on the Terrorist Unity Govt. Backed up by President Bush she reminded the Terrorist Abbas that the conditions set by the Quartet must still be met:
(www.israelNN.com) U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a warning Saturday night that the Palestinian Authority government must still comply with demands by the Quartet (U.S., Russia, United Nations and European Union) that it recognize Israel, renounce terrorism and honor existing agreements or relinquish hopes of future American assistance.
“It is reasonable to obligate them [the PA] to renounce violence, to recognize the right [of Israel] to exist and honor international agreements,” Rice told reporters.
Rice took a tough stance in a joint news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni after their meeting Saturday night.
The American Secretary of State arrived Saturday night in Israel after making an unannounced stop in Baghdad earlier in the day. She plans to meet separately on Sunday in Ramallah with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Abbas warned American Middle East envoy David Welch in preparatory talks earlier in the day that there would be no major policy changes in the new PA unity government, also to be led by the Hamas terrorist faction.
A PA official said Abbas flatly told Welch, “This (unity) agreement was the best we could get. We cannot change it. You either take it or leave it.”
According to a political source in Jerusalem, U.S. President George W. Bush reassured Olmert in a phone conversation Friday that America will continue to insist the PA government meet the Quartet demands before talks can continue.
PA negotiator Saeb Erekat confirmed the American position, quoting Welch as saying the U.S. is “going to judge this government according to its commitment to the Quartet conditions.”
The Terrorist President of the PA has basically replied to Condi, Tough Sh*t, Deal With It. This is the best we can do. So what if we don't recognize Israel, don't renounce terror, and do not honor previous agreements, we are who we are. You need to accept us.NOW thats Chutzpa ! Abbas is creating a Unified Terrorist government that will not accept Israel one of the pre-conditions for negotiations, but he is saying his Terrorist Council should be accepted--Typical Terrorist Double Talk.
I hope I am wrong---but, based on history I do not anticipate that the rest of the "quartet" will remain as steadfast as the US.
Abbas: World must accept unity gov't
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas delivered a defiant message to a senior US envoy on Saturday, saying that the world would simply have to learn to live with a new coalition between his Fatah movement and Hamas, an alliance which has raised concerns in Washington.US officials have told Abbas they would shun any Palestinian government that does not explicitly recognize Israel, according to Abbas aides. The platform of a Hamas-Fatah government agreed at a meeting in Mecca last week only contains a vague promise to "respect" previous peace deals with Israel, at best implying recognition.
"President Abbas told David Welch that the Mecca agreement was the only possible agreement and the world must deal with it," Abba aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said, after the meeting in Ramallah with Welch, a senior State Department official. Abbas is to host US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday and attend a three-way meeting Monday with Rice and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
"In the three-way meeting with Olmert and Rice, President Abbas is going to say that this government should be given a chance." Abu Rdeneh said.
A Palestinian official present at Saturday's meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to brief on the American's comments, said Welch had assured Abbas that the US would decide its position only when the new coalition takes office.
Palestinian negotiatior Saeb Erakat, however, said Welch reiterated Washington's insistence that the new coalition accept the conditions laid out by the so-called "Quartet" of peacemakers - the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union - that any Palestinian government must recognize Israel, renounce violence and honor previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.
"We are going to judge this government according to its commitment to the quartet conditions," Erekat quoted the American envoy as telling Abbas. Based on the agreement with Abbas, the Hamas government resigned earlier this week and
its prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, now has five weeks to form the new coalition.Abbas accepted the power-sharing deal with Hamas in hopes that it would end months of deadly factional fighting, even though the new government's program unlikely to satisfy the international community or end a crippling aid boycott.
Earlier this week, Welch called Abbas and informed him that Washington would boycott all members of the coalition, including independents and those from Fatah, unless its program is in line with international demands, Abbas' aides have said.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said she will reserve judgment until the coalition is formed and its policies are clear. She said she has seen no evidence that the government intends to meet international demands. "Talking about recognizing or not recognizing the government" is premature, Rice said Thursday.
Her visit, which is due to begin later Saturday, was initially billed as a step toward restarting talks on a final peace accord, but will likely be overshadowed by disputes over the Palestinian government.
In Gaza, meanwhile, Haniyeh began coalition talks, meeting with representatives of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small PLO faction. A Hamas legislator, Khalil al-Hayeh, said Haniyeh hoped to form a goverment within three weeks, rather than the allotted five weeks.
The Moderate Abbas and his criminal cronies celebrated Shabbos by showing his true nature. Hey he can't make peace...he still has rockets left over.
Terrorist Attacks Return to Sderot and Gaza
by Hana Levi Julian
(IsraelNN.com) Sderot residents were besieged by rocket fire over the Sabbath even as Palestinian Authority terrorists attacked each other.
The El-Arish Brigades, a terrorist group affiliated with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction, took responsibility for two separate rocket attacks against Israel.
Kassam rockets were fired at the western Negev Friday night and again on Saturday. Two of the missiles exploded near Kibbutz Magen, located east of Gaza, and two others slammed into an area near Sderot.
No one was injured and no damage was reported in either attack, which the terrorists said was in retaliation for Israeli “aggression on Jerusalem and Al-Aksa [mosque] at the Temple Mount.”
The so-called aggression was a reference to repair work that is being carried out on a broken footbridge leading to the entrance of the Temple Mount. The construction and excavation site is located about 60 meters away from the mosque, but Muslims claim that Israel is trying to undermine the foundations of mosques in order to cause their collapse.
Rival PA terrorist gangs also attacked each other on Saturday in a return to the militia war that has torn apart the PA for much of the past year.
Gunfights broke out in Gaza and Samaria during the day, including an attack on the house of PA Planning Minister Samir Abu Aisha early Saturday morning.
The Palestinian Legislative Council immediately issued a statement condemning the attacks and reminding all terrorist factions of the unity deal signed in Mecca slightly more than a week ago between Fatah and Hamas.
Other inter-faction attacks have taken place over the past several days as well. Gunmen fired at Fatah members in the Gaza town of Bani Sohaila, and a minor shootout took place on the Salah-el-din Road in central Gaza.
Hamas Invites Terrorists Groups into Government
The Hamas terrorist organization, headed by PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, invited the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) on Saturday to join the new unity government. Earlier in the day, the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization was invited as well but rejected the offer.
PFLP head Kayid al-Ghool said his group was considering the offer but refused to commit itself to comply with demands by the international community that the PA government recognize Israel, renounce terrorism and uphold previously-signed international agreements.
Also over the weekend, a Palestinian Authority security officer was shot by masked terrorists near the Gaza-Egypt border crossing. Egyptian officials said it was an assassination attempt in retaliation for the officer’s reporting of a tunnel used by smugglers to bring weapons and terrorists into Gaza. More than 30,000 bullets were discovered in the tunnel, which opened into the middle of a field approximately three miles north of Rafiah.
The attackers fired at Mustafa Sa’ad Jbour from a speeding car several hundred yards from the Rafiah checkpoint, according to Captain Mohammed Badr, an Egyptian Sinai security service officer. Jbour was taken to hospital in the Egyptian town of El-Arish.
Badr said the Egyptians would coordinate with PA security personnel to close the tunnel at both ends.
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