Palestine

Netanyahu ‘fails in battle’ against Palestine unity gov’t

365485_Benjamin-NetanyahuIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed in his attempts to prevent the international recognition of the national Palestinian unity government, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry says.

Netanyahu “went through the battle of international acknowledgement of the unity government and stood against reconciliation because it achieves unity of the occupied Palestinian lands since 1967,” the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Tuesday statement, in reference to the recent agreement between previously competing Palestinian factions, Ma’an news agency reported.

In April, Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement to end years of rivalry and form a unity government. The new cabinet was sworn in before Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian national unity government, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday. The cabinet is led by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and has 17 ministers including 5 from the Hamas movement.

The European Union (EU) and the United States have announced plans to work with the new government. The United Nations (UN) has also hailed the formation of the Palestinian unity government.

Netanyahu has been deeply angered by the unity of the Palestinian factions. He said earlier this week that the world should not recognize the national Palestinian unity government.

“I call on all responsible elements within the international community not to hurry to recognize the Palestinian government that Hamas is part of,” Netanyahu said on June 1.

Referring to the attempts by Netanyahu to disrupt the reconciliation process, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs further said in its statement, “Netanyahu employed the division to weaken the political stand of Palestine, and he used it to hide his negative attitudes toward the rights of the Palestinian people.”

The West’s recognition of the new Palestinian government is seen as a rebuff of the Israeli regime, which has been calling on the international community not to recognize the new unity government.

The Israeli regime occupied the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in a war in 1967.

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