Abbas: We'll work with any government

PA president will talk to any PM committed to peace; Hamas: Peres's decision proves Israelis' extremism.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Abbas 248.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
Abbas 248.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
"The Palestinian Authority will work with any government in Israel which will push forward the peace process and commit to evacuating settlements," PA President Mahmoud Abbas said after President Shimon Peres tasked Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu with establishing a new government on Friday. Last week, in an interview to Italian paper La Repubblica Abbas said "every possible makeup of the Israeli government will be committed to responsible and moderate diplomatic action." PA Prime minister Salaam Fayad, on the other hand, expressed concern that the right-wing in Israel was strengthened: "I hope we'll continue to demand from Israel what it demands from us," he said. Hamas, on its side, said it made no difference whether Netanyahu or Kadima leader Tzipi Livni would become prime minister. "This should be a lesson to those who put all their eggs in the basket of the peace process," group official Ismail Radwan said, in apparent criticism of Abbas and the PA, which have been holding ongoing negotiations with Israel. Other Hamas officials said "the decision [by Peres to appoint Netanyahu] proves that the Israeli public tends to extremism and all attempts at making peace were a waste."