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Mar 26: Plassnik: "We need to take the path of dialogue - even if the odds are against it" |
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Foreign Minister on the resumption of talks between Fatah und Hamas
 Vienna, 26 March 2008 - Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik described the resumption of talks between the rivalling Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas brokered by Yemen as a "remarkable development - despite the necessary caution." Plassnik: "There is still a deep division. Yet the path to inner Palestinian dialogue seems to have been reopened again. Now the declarations of intent must be followed by deeds."
"Divisions do not strengthen the Palestinian cause, the opposite is true," the Foreign Minister continued. "Therefore, in all the talks I had during my last visit to the Middle East in February, I insisted on an internal Palestinian dialogue. The previous government of national unity, which had been established through Saudi Arabian mediation, did point the way forward. It collapsed as a result of the violent coup by Hamas against the Palestinian Authority and President Abbas in the Gaza Strip. Moderate forces have been looking for a way out of the current situation in the Gaza Strip ever since."
Plassnik: "Hamas must quickly find a way to establish the main elements for a peaceful solution beyond dispute: the right of Israel to exist, an end to violence and respect for all agreements previously concluded by the Palestinians. First it is necessary to re-establish the rule of law in the Gaza Strip and end the firing of rockets aimed at Israeli targets."
The Foreign Minister added that "The objective now is to rebuild lost confidence. A concrete and practical progress would be an agreement on the return of control of the Rafah border crossing to the Palestinian Authority with the involvement of trustworthy Hamas followers in the practical responsibility for it. The EU is ready to assume its part and make the only international border crossing to the Gaza Strip operable again. There is no sustainable alternative to Palestinian dialogue, even if the latter is particularly strenuous. We need to continue on this path, even if the odds are against it."
Contact:
Federal Ministry for
European and International
Affairs Press Department
Tel.: ++43 (0) 50 1150-3262, 4549, 4550
Fax: ++43 (0) 50 1159-213
abti3(at)bmeia.gv.at
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