Israeli Prime Minister says no peace with Hamas in control of Gaza

Wednesday November 21, 2007 10:47 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agency

The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Tuesday that Israel would not have peace with the Palestinian Authority as long as the democratically-elected Hamas government holds power in the Gaza Strip.

Ehud Olmert

The Israeli government, along with the U.S. government, supports the other, unelected government of the Palestinians, led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.  That unelected government is currently in power in the second of the two Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, the West Bank.

Olmert made the declaration after meeting with the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday, in preparation for a peace summit with Mahmoud Abbas next week.

Mubarak verified that Egypt would not support a separation between the two Palestinian territories.  "Hamas and Fatah have some problems," Mubarak said. "We can't say how there can be a Palestinian state with a separate Gaza. It has to be one state and this will take time."

The Israeli Prime Minister called on the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas to implement its obligations under the Roadmap plan for peace, including both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Authority, as well as British observers, have accused Israel of preventing Abbas' security forces from deploying in the northern West Bank, and undermining the security forces' effectiveness by regularly invading and attacking Palestinian towns and cities that are supposed to be under the Palestinian Authority's control.

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