BICOM

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday that the US ‘cannot support any government that consists of Hamas unless and until Hamas adopts the Quartet principles,’ which require it to recognise Israel’s right to exist, abandon violence and commit to existing agreements. Clinton was speaking at a joint press conference with Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini. However, Clinton also said that the US was waiting to see the details of the agreement, and that the US would be, ‘carefully assessing what this actually means, because there are a number of different potential meanings to it, both on paper and in practice.’ Speaking alongside Clinton, Frattini agreed that Hamas’s adherence to Quartet principles was a ‘prerequisite’ for engaging with the movement. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, met yesterday in Paris with French President Nicholas Sarkozy. Speaking to reporters after the event, Netanyahu said Israel could consider support for the establishment of a Palestinian state ‘even before September’, but that such a state must be willing to ‘abandon the goal of destroying Israel.’  He added that, ‘the idea is not to establish a Palestinian state to continue the conflict as Hamas wants – but to establish state so as to end conflict.’

Further reading: BICOM Analysis: How is Israel reacting to the Palestinian unity deal?