HAIFA, Israel, March 20 (UPI) -- An international boycott of the Palestinian government seemed to be cracking following formation of a new Cabinet that includes moderates willing to compromise with Israel.
The government, comprising representatives of the Islamic Hamas, the nationalist Fatah, smaller factions and independents, was sworn in Saturday.
It does not meet the demands that the Quartet (the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations) set last year. It has not renounced violence, accepted Israel, nor undertaken to honor all the agreements concluded with Israel.
However, upon presenting his government Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh talked of establishing an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with Jerusalem as its capital. That suggests acceptance of Israel beyond those lines.
Haniyeh declared his government shall "respect the international legitimacy resolutions and the agreements that were signed by the PLO." A Palestinian official maintained that was a reference to Quartet and U.N. resolutions.
"For Hamas to say they accept the 1967 borders and respect the agreements (the Palestine Liberation Organization) made is a break with Hamas' positions," the official argued.
Moreover, the government's platform authorizes President Mahmoud Abbas to negotiate with Israel. Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, has negotiated on the PLO's behalf but at that time Hamas was not in the PLO. Now, it too authorizes him to negotiate but with a caveat: Any offer or final agreement "should be presented to the new Palestinian National Council for ratification or ... (to) a general referendum." West Bank, Gaza Strip and Palestinians abroad would have the right to vote.
Norway promptly recognized the government and its Deputy Foreign Minister Raymond Johansen met Haniyeh.
The U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem, Jacob Walles, met Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad. A U.S. diplomat maintained Washington will "have no contact with members of foreign terrorist organizations, including Hamas officials in the national unity govt. However, we will not suspend contact with individual Palestinians solely on the grounds that they hold office in the unity government."
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reportedly welcomed the new government, and his representative, Alvaro de Sotto, attended the legislature's session.
Russia and China reportedly expressed readiness to cooperate with new government. Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema congratulated Haniyeh, France invited Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr to Paris and he is expected to meet his Belgian counterpart next Friday, Maan news reported. Turkey said it expected the international community "to assume an unprejudiced and encouraging approach" towards the government.
One of the major questions is whether the international community will resume aid to that government; so far, the Quartet's answer seems to be: Not directly.
The European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said they would prolong the Temporary International Mechanism of transferring money while bypassing the government by three more months.
All this presents a problem to Israel. In the past year it happily fell in line with the Quartet refusing to have any dealings with the Hamas-led government, though maintaining contacts with Abbas.
Israel's Cabinet resolved to continue the boycott. It said it would not work with the Palestinian government or any of its ministers, and that means not even with ministers who have had contacts with Israel, such as Fayyad.
The Israelis maintained that the Palestinian government's statement affirming, "Resistance in all its forms ... is a legitimate right" means they consider terror "a legitimate right."
An Israeli Cabinet statement noted the new government refuses to recognize Israel and accepts only agreements that accord with "Palestinian interests."
The clause stipulating that a new Palestinian National Council, with Hamas delegates, or a referendum must approve any agreement with Israel, "limits the possibilities and range of topics which Israel can discuss" with Abbas, the Cabinet added.
"Rather than have the (radical) Hamas come towards Fatah ... (it is) the pragmatic moderates who went towards the extremists," said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's media adviser, Miri Eisin.
Israel, like the United States, considers Hamas a terror organization, and Eisin maintained there was no reason to change the Quartet's conditions. "If you don't succeed against a terror organization which refuses to abide by international rules, let's change the international rules?" she asked.
The Cabinet approved its stance with no objections and only two abstentions, but dissenting voices have emerged.
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, a member of Olmert's Kadima party, and a former head of the Shabak security service, recommended talking to some ministers.
Tuesday, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said at Haifa University that the minute the new government says it recognizes Israel's right to exist, "as far as I am concerned this is a government with which we can negotiate." He did not mention the two other Quartet demands -- the cessation of violence and acceptance of past agreements.
Israel found itself in an odd situation Tuesday. In the morning it followed its past policy towards officials who met President Yasser Arafat. Since Norway's Johansen met Haniyeh, Israel called off his planned meeting with the Foreign Ministry's director general, Israel Radio reported. But then Walles met Fayyad, and boycotting a U.S. senior diplomat is more problematic. Eisin declined comment on Walles' meeting.
The Haaretz and Yediot Aharonot newspapers have also advocated talks with the new government.
"This is the most representative, respectable and credible government the Palestinians ever had," wrote Yediot Aharonot.
"Since we failed to block Hamas, and since Abu Mazen emerged as a statesman who dances to Hamas' tune, Israel (should) open a direct dialogue with Ismail Haniyeh and his government," it advocated.
Haaretz said that "even a years' long cease-fire, as Hamas offers, is better than a constant war."
A Yediot Aharonot public-opinion poll showed that 56 percent of Israelis favor talks with the Palestinians: Thirty-nine percent advocate talks with the new government, and 17 percent favor talks with Fatah members only.
A Palestinian official sounded upbeat. The new government would be represented at next week's Arab summit in Riyadh, where an Arab peace initiative is likely to be relaunched, the official said.
