zionist israel warned against disrupting new Palestinian gov’t

President of the Palestinian National Unity Government Mahmoud Abbas has warned Israel against any efforts to disrupt the activities of the newly-formed government.

“Any measures which may be taken by the Israeli authorities and their effect on the interests of the Palestinian people will not pass without a response by us. We are not interested in escalation… and more tensions,” Abbas said.

He made the comments after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to take what he called punitive measures in response to the formation of the new Palestinian government.

A security cabinet meeting called to discuss the unity government decided “to authorize the prime minister (Netanyahu) to impose additional sanctions on the Palestinian Authority,” Netanyahu’s office said on Monday, without elaborating.

Meanwhile, Abbas noted that the Palestinians would not stay silent if Israel adopts any divisive policy, and would employ all political, diplomatic, and legal means to respond to Israeli sanctions.

The new cabinet of the Palestinian unity government was sworn in before Abbas 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. Israel calls the resistance Hamas movement a terrorist group.

The EU and the United States have announced plans to work with the new government in a move seen as a rebuff of the Israeli regime, which has been calling on the international community not to recognize the new unity government.

In April, Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement to end years of rivalry and form a unity government.