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The Israeli Security cabinet is set to meet on Thursday to discuss its response to the unity deal struck between the Hamas rulers of Gaza and the Palestinian leadership. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not react well to the agreement between the two rivals on Wednesday, and accused Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas of “choosing Hamas, not peace”.
The ministers are likely to announce new retaliation measures to go with several financial sanctions unveiled earlier in the month when Palestine applied to join fifteen international treaties. However, they are not expected to completely stop their US-brokered talks with Palestine despite a Netanyahu aid announcing that they had cancelled a scheduled meeting on Wednesday.
Netanyahu’s office called the agreement between Hamas and Abbas, which opposes Palestine’s peace talks with Israel, as “very serious”. However, it added that it was up to the ministers to decide if any new measures will be taken after the meeting on Thursday. “By tying itself to Hamas, the Palestinian leadership is turning its back on peace”, the aid said.
On April 10, Israel had announced that it would freeze the transfer of about 80 million euros in taxes it collects for the Palestinian Authority. The amount accounts for almost two-thirds of Palestine’s revenue. The deal between the Hamas and the Palestinian leadership came as US brokered peace talks, opened last July, were on the verge of collapsing, just days before its April 29 deadline. US envoy Martin Indyk held several meeting with both parties in a last-ditch attempt to save the negotiations.
Palestine’s chief negotiator Saeb Erakat denied that a three-way meeting was planned on Wednesday. He however acknowledged that he would meet with Indyk without the Israelis on Thursday. Meanwhile, Abbas has said that he would not extend their negotiations unless Israel stops all settlement construction is West Bank, including annexed parts of East Jerusalem, and free a group of Arab prisoners it had agreed to release earlier in the month.
