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Hamas Aide Hints at Softening on Direct Talks With Israel Deal Reached on Gaza Reconstruction, Palestinian Leader Says
(about 4 hours later)
JERUSALEM — With no clear plan in place to continue Egyptian-brokered talks that halted this summer’s hostilities between Israel and Hamas, the militant Palestinian movement that dominates the Gaza Strip, a senior Hamas leader said in an interview broadcast Thursday that the group might have to reverse its longstanding ban on direct negotiations with Israel. JERUSALEM — President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority said Thursday night that he had reached an agreement with Israel and the United Nations to allow imports of reconstruction materials into the Gaza Strip, apparently bypassing Hamas to fulfill a key tenet of the cease-fire agreement that halted hostilities on Aug. 26.
The senior leader, Mousa Abu Marzook, a Hamas official based in Cairo who has been visiting Gaza, told Al-Quds Television that Islamic law did not bar such talks, and that they could be necessary if no other route yielded progress on reconstructing thousands of buildings demolished across Gaza. The comments, along with Hamas’s partial payment of salaries on Thursday to employees of its former Gaza government, highlighted increasing tension threatening the recent reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, the rival faction led by President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority. Mr. Abbas did not provide specifics about when the imports might begin, how much would be allowed or who, exactly, would control the process. Spokesmen for the United Nations office that has been negotiating the deal, the Israeli prime minister, and the Israeli agency responsible for coordinating activities in Gaza did not return telephone calls late Thursday.
“As we negotiate with weapons, we can negotiate with words,” Mr. Marzook said, stumbling as he tried to address the anchor’s question about the possibility of direct talks with Israel. “If the status quo remains, and I say it very frankly, because it has become kind of a public demand by all the people in the Gaza Strip, Hamas may find itself compelled to this behavior.” But at an evening meeting of the Palestinian leadership, Mr. Abbas said that a former minister and a United Nations representative had “signed an agreement which allows the entry of all materials to Gaza and the exporting of what’s possible to export from Gaza abroad, which will alleviate the living burdens on the people.” The comments were broadcast on television.
Hinting that the Palestinian government, created by the reconciliation, had failed to deliver anything for Gaza residents, he added: “The issues that were sort of taboo policies become on the agenda.” Gaza residents have been increasingly frustrated that more than two weeks after the cease-fire, its promise of open crossings into Israel has not been fulfilled. Some 11,000 homes were destroyed and more than 50,000 buildings damaged in Israel’s seven-week battle against Hamas, the militant Islamist movement that dominates the strip.
The Hamas politburo released a statement after the interview aired saying that “direct negotiations with the Zionist enemy are not of the movement’s policies and are not in the discussions.” Palestinian leaders estimated reconstruction costs at $7 billion and planned an international donor conference for next month. Yet it was unclear whether Hamas and Mr. Abbas’s Fatah faction could agree on an import arrangement that would meet Israel’s security demands to ensure that materials not be diverted to military purposes.
Israel has its own ban on talks with Hamas, unless the movement accepts three conditions: renounce violence, recognize Israel and embrace previous agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. A United Nations official who requested anonymity confirmed that the deal would be finalized on Friday.
“As long as Hamas does not abandon the path of violence and terrorism,” Yaakov Peri, a senior Israeli minister, said Thursday on Israel Radio, “Israel will not conduct direct negotiations with that terrorist organization.” Mr. Abbas’s assertion that an agreement had been reached came hours after the broadcast of a television interview in which a senior Hamas leader said the group might have to reverse its longstanding ban on direct negotiations with Israel because the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire had not yielded progress on reconstruction.
But Mr. Marzook’s comments may have been less about a practical policy change than a political shot at Mr. Abbas, whose harsh criticism of Hamas over the weekend renewed doubts about the durability of the reconciliation pact signed in April. The interview with the senior leader, Mousa Abu Marzook, along with Hamas’s partial payment of salaries on Thursday to employees of its former Gaza government, highlighted the increasing tension threatening the recent reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.
A Fatah leader close to Mr. Abbas led the Palestinian delegation in Cairo that accepted a cease-fire with Israel on Aug. 26, promising to open crossings into Gaza, which has yet to produce results on the ground. Those talks are supposed to resume this month to discuss reconstruction as well as Palestinian demands for an airport and seaport in Gaza. But many in Hamas now question whether a unified delegation will represent its position. Mr. Marzook, who is based in Cairo and has been visiting Gaza, told Al-Quds Television that Islamic law did not ban direct talks with Israel, and that Hamas “may find itself compelled to this behavior” because of the Palestinian Authority’s failure to meet the needs of Gaza residents.
One of Hamas’s main goals in the reconciliation was to secure payment of salaries for more than 40,000 people who had staffed ministries in Gaza since 2007, when Hamas, which won elections the previous year and formed a unity government with Fatah, routed its rival from Gaza. But the Palestinian Authority, which in the intervening years continued to pay salaries for 70,000 employees of its own in Gaza, maintains that it cannot send money to anyone affiliated with Hamas, for fear of risking financial support from countries like the United States that consider it a terrorist group. “As we negotiate with weapons, we can negotiate with words,” Mr. Marzook said. “The issues that were sort of taboo policies become on the agenda.”
So Hamas, which has already distributed $40 million to families whose homes were attacked by Israel, on Thursday provided $275 to $1,240 to each of its employees in what officials described as a loan. Hamas, which was suffering financially this spring, has refused to say where the money originated. The Hamas politburo released a statement after the interview saying that “direct negotiations with the Zionist enemy are not of the movement’s policies and are not in the discussions.”
Employees who had not been paid for months lined up outside the Islamic National Bank in Gaza City, where three money-changers were on hand to exchange the payments in United States dollars to shekels, the Israeli currency used in Gaza. Jehad Bahrawi, a driver in the prison ministry, got three $100 bills, about half his monthly salary. Israel has its own ban on talks with Hamas, unless the movement accepts three conditions: renounce violence, recognize Israel and embrace agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
“I’m not going to buy school uniforms or book bags for my kids,” said Mr. Bahrawi, 44, a father of seven whose home in the Shejaiya neighborhood was damaged but not destroyed. “I will pay for the supermarket and other debts and nothing will remain.” Mr. Marzook’s comments may have been less about a practical policy change than a political shot at Mr. Abbas, whose harsh criticism of Hamas over the weekend renewed doubts about the durability of the reconciliation pact signed in April.
The payments only underscored Mr. Abbas’s accusation that Hamas continued to operate a shadow government in Gaza after the reconciliation. But in a statement, Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said, “We still hope that a solution will be reached by the national-consensus government.” One of Hamas’s main goals in the reconciliation was to secure payment of salaries for more than 40,000 people who had staffed ministries in Gaza since 2007, when Hamas, which won elections the previous year and formed a unity government with Fatah that soon collapsed, routed its rival from Gaza.
But the Palestinian Authority, which in the intervening years has continued to pay salaries for 70,000 employees of its own in Gaza, maintains that it cannot send money to anyone affiliated with Hamas, for fear of risking financial support from countries like the United States that consider Hamas a terrorist group.
So Hamas, which has already distributed $40 million to families whose homes were attacked by Israel, on Thursday provided $275 to $1,240 to each of its employees in what officials described as a loan. Hamas, which was suffering financially this spring, has refused to say where the money originated, and the payments only emphasized Mr. Abbas’s accusation that it has continued to operate a shadow government in Gaza.
Employees who had not been paid for months lined up outside the Islamic National Bank in Gaza City, where three money-changers were on hand to exchange the payments in United States dollars to shekels, the Israeli currency used in Gaza.