CAIRO: Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon Saturday slammed newly re-found Palestinian unity, saying that a Fatah-Hamas unity government would “turn the Palestinian Authority into a terror entity.” “Such a move will deal a debilitating blow to the changes of reaching a settlement,” he said, adding that the foreign ministry is looking into the possibility of “cutting off Gaza's infrastructure from Israel completely.” After a meeting in Cairo on Thursday, Hamas and Fatah stated to have reached agreements to finally end the rivalry that split the West Bank and Gaza into separate administrations under each party in 2007. After the meeting, they communicated to have reached complete agreements on the way forward, and that elections for a unity government will be coming up shortly. Prior to the Cairo meeting, Ahmed Youssef, former political adviser of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, announced an agreement that the next Palestinian government will be based in Gaza. The next prime minister may also be a resident of Gaza, he added. Such statements have further angered Israeli leadership, who fiercely oppose Hamas and has consequently refused to negotiate with the Islamist group. However, this does not mean unity talks will be dismantled. “The threats (by the Israeli government) reassure us that we are taking the right track … the Palestinian people can't be angered or frightened when they do anything that serves their interest,” Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal told reporters. “Why would we be worried while the enemy practices tyranny against the Palestinian people indiscriminately on a daily basis?” he said. Israeli Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein added to the critic of the deal. As Meshaal and Abbas were discussing the reconciliation in Cairo, he said the unity plans prove that “Abbas is accepting Hamas' aggressiveness and terrorist ways against Israel and supporting the murder of innocent civilians.” “From today the Authority is a terror group with all its implications. Abbas has chosen to escalate the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and the consequences of the partnership with Hamas will be disastrous to the entire region,” he added. The Israeli government is currently withholding Palestinian tax revenues, money that the Palestinian Authority is in urgent need of to function as a governing authority. The money has been frozen since the PA was accepted into UNESCO last month, as Israel also subsequently cut all funding to the UN body. Prime Minister to Abbas' government, Salam Fayyad, vowed to step down from his post earlier this month to welcome Hamas' demands for a new PM if unity was to materialize. Friday, Fayyad slammed Israeli withholding of Palestinian funds. “This is our money,” he said, repeating his proposal to step down.The former rival factions met in Cairo Wednesday to discuss further efforts to conclude a unity deal that has been waiting to be ratified since May when an interim leadership should have formed to prepare for elections. However, the process has been obstructed as the parties couldn't agree on ministers to appoint for the interim government, and President Abbas appointed current Prime Minister Salam Fayyad who was rejected by Hamas. Since the recent Cairo meeting, the parties have scheduled to meet again in December in order to “activate the leadership framework” of Palestinian factions to take part in the way forward. BM
