JERUSALEM, (Reuters) – Israel said yesterday a Palestinian unity deal would sabotage prospects for peace and stemmed from panic by Hamas and Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas over popular uprisings in Syria and Egypt.
The surprise reconciliation between the Islamist group that runs Gaza and Abbas’s Fatah movement that exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank presented a new challenge for Israel as it mounts a diplomatic drive against a Palestinian campaign to win U.N. recognition of statehood ambitions in September.
“The agreement between Fatah and the terror organisation Hamas is a fatal mistake that will prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and will sabotage chances of peace and stability in the region,” Israeli President Shimon Peres said.
Peres, a respected elder statesman, said in a statement he feared Hamas would ultimately take over the West Bank after a Palestinian election envisaged by the unity deal and that the influence of Hamas ally Iran would be strengthened as a result.
