JERUSALEM — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that he is willing to continue negotiations with Israel, speaking two days after Israel broke off peace talks following a deal between Abbas’ moderate Fatah faction and the militant Islamist group Hamas to form a unity government.
Addressing the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council in Ramallah, Abbas said that Israel is negotiating with the PLO and the Palestinian Authority as a whole and that “any government formed would comply with our national agreements … to recognize the State of Israel and renounce terror.”
Israeli officials, however, contend that including Hamas in a Palestinian government would make peace negotiations impossible.
Israel holds Hamas responsible for rocket fire into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip that it rules. Both Israel and the United States have labeled the group a terrorist organization.
Taher al-Nunu, a media adviser for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, said that the faction did not rule out the possibility of recognizing Israel but that any such move would have to be discussed as part of Hamas’ efforts to join the PLO and form a government.
In the meantime, al-Nunu said, the agreement reached with Fatah on Wednesday focuses on services for the Palestinian people, not on external political issues.
Abbas has been given five weeks to form a unity government based on conditions laid out in previous agreements and to set in motion plans for parliamentary and presidential reforms and elections.
