Quartet welcomes national unity, with reservations

The Quartet welcomed the proposed Palestinian national unity government as a harbinger of calm but reasserted the principles that would end Palestinian isolation. “The Quartet expressed hope that the desired calm would prevail,” said the statement issued last Friday by the grouping of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations that guides the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. The agreement, reached Feb. 8 in Mecca, ends the internecine violence between Hamas, which runs the Cabinet, and Fatah, which controls the presidency, that was precipitated in December when Hamas refused to meet Fatah’s terms of recognizing Israel and renouncing terrorism. Both are Quartet conditions for ending the isolation that has crippled the Palestinian economy. Under the new agreement Hamas agrees to “respect” prior peace agreements with Israel while not explicitly recognizing it; in fact, in the wake of the agreement, Hamas leaders reaffirmed their refusal to recognize Israel. The Quartet statement made it clear its principles still held, saying it would support “a Palestinian government committed to nonviolence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations.”