Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Israel Sets Preconditions For Talks With Palestinian Unity Government

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Israeli government said it will not conduct diplomatic negotiations with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas unless it meets several conditions, including a halt to the group’s terrorist activities.

The conditions, which were announced Tuesday following a meeting of the Security Cabinet, include recognition of Israel and a halt to all terrorist activities in accordance with the rules set down by the Middle East Quartet; disarming of Hamas’ military infrastructure; and the return of the bodies of fallen Israeli soldiers and several civilians being held by Hamas in Gaza.

Other conditions are handing full security control of the Gaza Strip, including all border crossings, to the Palestinian Authority; the severing of all ties between Hamas and Iran; and humanitarian supplies and funds for Gaza facilitated through the P.A.

The Palestinian Authority and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, signed a reconciliation agreement earlier this week in Cairo. They are scheduled to meet again next month in the Egyptian capital to discuss forming a new unity government, as well as elections for president and parliament.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.