After the announcement that Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ordered negotiators not to attend a meeting planned for Wednesday night, 23 Nissan 5774.

The prime minister stated that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has made his position crystal clear, that he prefers to sign an agreement with Hamas than Israel. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman added Abu Mazen must decide with whom he wishes to make peace since he cannot be signed with Hamas and Israel. Minister of the Economy Naftali Bennett added that Hamas will continue dispatching terrorists to murder Jews and Abu Mazen will continue to demand their release.

For the United States and Secretary of State John Kerry the PA move is nothing less than a slap in the face. White House threats that such a move would seriously compromise US/PA relations and directly impact US funding of the PA did nothing, as Abu Mazen decided to find favor in the eyes of the Arab world, not the Western community.

Telling a different version of events, Chief PA negotiator Dr. Saeb Erekat told the media that no meeting was planned for Wednesday evening. Erekat added that it is Israel and not the PA that has ended the talks a long time ago, blaming the breakdown in negotiations in a large way on the prime minister’s policies and continued building “in settlements”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)