Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Hamas’ 25th anniversary celebrations in the West Bank, which saw the Gaza rulers hold the first rally in five years in rival Palestinian Authority territory, in the clearest indication yet the two factions might be en route to reconciliation.
Condemning the internationally-outlawed group for its recent incendiary remarks about the Jewish State, Netanyahu retorted: “We have been here in Jerusalem, not for 25 years; we have been here in Jerusalem for 3,000 years. We have been in the Land of Israel for close to 4,000 years. We have a strong and steadfast national will, the continuous historical consciousness and strength of soul of a people that has struggled for its homeland and knows how to maintain its state.”
Invoking his previous declarations that Jerusalem is Israel’s “eternal capital”, he added: “We will stand steadfast in the face of all those who want to expel us from here. The State of Israel, Jerusalem and the Western Wall will remain ours forever.”
Last week, at a sitting of the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg, MEPs voted for a resolution which called for the reconciliation of the estranged Gaza leadership and the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority and its President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, as the only legitimate “way to reunite Palestinians living in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, who are part of the same Palestinian people”.
Calling on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides “to refrain from any unilateral action which could undermine or hinder peace efforts and the prospects for a negotiated peace agreement”, the cross-party motion expressed “its strong support for the two state solution on the basis of the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as capital of both States”.
Ahead of Thursday’s vote, Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Markoulis opened the preceding debate Wednesday, on behalf of the absent EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, by calling for “intra-Palestinian reconciliation behind President Abbas”. “Such reconciliation would also have a direct impact on the situation in Gaza, which is unsustainable as long as it remains politically and economically separated from the West Bank,” she contended.
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas appeared to respond to international calls for a national reconciliation, as he told reporters in Ramallah he saw no reason why the PA couldn’t reach an agreement with Hamas on the stalled national elections, in the wake of the PA’s successful bid for UN non-member observer status at last month’s General Assembly.
Netanyahu has in turn accused Abbas of condoning Hamas’ inciteful calls for Israel’s destruction, a claim that incurred condemnation by MEPs last week, including Belgian Liberal Democrat Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck, who said that “the Israeli government is undermining the legitimacy of Mahmoud Abbas and by ricochet, such an undermining of his legitimacy can only reinforce the status of Hamas, which from the point of view of Israel is kind of a paradoxical attitude”.
Speaking from the final day’s lighting of the Jewish festival of Chanukah at the Western Wall Saturday night, the Israeli PM invoked the miracle of the festival of lights to deny recent Palestinian claims the Western Wall forms part of Israel’s “occupied territory”.
“I want to tell them from the closet possible place to the miracle of the jar of oil: The Western Wall has been ours for 3,000 years, and it and the State of Israel will be ours forever," the Prime Minister said.