Israel Matzav

Der Spiegel: Eurabia to deal with 'Palestinian unity government'

It probably won't surprise anyone, but Der Spiegel is reporting today that Eurabia is about to abandon the 'quartet' conditions and deal with the new 'Palestinian unity government.'

Behind the scenes, senior political leaders are considering measures that could be taken to help stabilize the nascent government. Officials are expected to be permitted to take up contact with moderate ministers in the government in the near future. Once these contacts are established, Brussels sources have said, EU funds could once again start flowing to the Palestinian government.

"They have undertaken great efforts," a senior diplomat in the German Foreign Ministry told SPIEGEL. "It would be catastrophic if the Europeans were now to say the whole thing had been an April Fool's Joke."

...

On Monday, representatives of the four Quartet members are planning to discuss how to move forward with Palestinian relations. The EU, according to Cristina Gallach, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy head Javier Solana, is addopting a "pro-active wait-and-see attitude." The apparent shift comes after a move by Hamas to grant moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas the sole right on behalf of the unity government to negotiate an end to the conflict with Israel.

However, that proposal has been meet with adamant rejection in Jerusalem. And the Israelis are particularly alarmed by the fact that even German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is viewed as one of Israel's most steadfast allies, has reacted positively towards the recent Palestinian development. When Merkel praised the agreement between Hamas and Fatah at a conference in Berlin just over a week ago, an Israeli minister present promptly rang the alarm bells with his colleagues in Jerusalem. Now, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is said to want to use his good contacts with Merkel in an effort to keep the Hamas boycott intact.

The fact that 'Foreign Minister' Tzipi Feigele Livni is unable to explain to the Europeans why they should not be dealing with a terrorist 'Palestinian government' is nearly as big a failure as 'Defense Minister' Amir Comrade Peretz's failure in the war last summer. If she had the courage and honesty to equate 'moderate' Abu Mazen with Hamas, the world might finally get it. But she and Ehud K. Olmert continue to conduct the charade that Abu Mazen is 'moderate' and that there is something to 'discuss' with him. It is time for a new government that takes pride in being Jews and in what has been accomplished in this country over the past fifty-nine years.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:29 PM