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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday praised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for condemning the alleged abduction of three Israeli teenagers, but slammed the unity pact between Fatah and the Hamas. The three teens had disappeared from a popular hitchhiking spot in West Bank on June 12th, and Israel has rounded up several hundreds of Palestinians as a part of an army operation to find them, while simultaneously dealing a blow to Hamas.
“I appreciate what president Abbas said a few days ago in Saudi Arabia, rejecting the kidnapping. I think these were important words”, he said when he met with Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta at Jerusalem. Last week, Abbas, in a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia last week, said, “Those who kidnapped the three teenagers want to destroy us. We will hold them accountable”. He, however, did not say that Hamas were involved in the kidnapping. Israel has accused Hamas for the abductions; the Palestinian movement has not claimed the kidnappings.
Abbas had also pledged to continue the security coordination with Israel, which, according to him, was in Palestine’s “best interest” since it would “help protect us”.
Israel has taken the opportunity to try and crack the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah, which saw both parties agree to a unity government comprising of independents.
On Tuesday, Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas, told Al-Jazeera Television that ” we do not have information about what happened”, stressing his support for “every resistance attack against the Israeli occupation”.
Netanyahu slammed Meshaal’s comments, reiterating that if “Abbas really means what he said about the kidnapping, and if he is truly committed to peace and to fighting terrorism, then logic and common sense mandate that he break his pact with Hamas.”
“There can be no alliance with the kidnappers of children”, he added.
