Israel has rejected a call by the Palestinian UN observer on Israel to negotiate peace without preconditions.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN observer, told the Security Council
that the formation of a Palestinian government of national unity and the relaunch of the Arab Peace Initiative adopted at an Arab summit in 2002 offered a chance to move forward and revive the peace process.
This "historic opportunity . . . should not be lost like so many before it," he said. "On the Palestinian side, we are willing and ready, and President [Mahmoud] Abbas, with support and a mandate from all Palestinian political groups, is prepared to negotiate unconditionally final status issues.
"If there is a partner for peace on the Israeli side to negotiate with us without conditions, we are ready," Mansour said.
But Israel's UN ambassador, Dan Gillerman, made clear his government would not enter negotiations as long as Hamas remains part of the Palestinian government and refuses to agree to all three conditions set by the international community
- recognition of Israel, renunciation of violence, and a honouring previous agreements.
"Hamas has shown it will not stop its campaign of terror until its unholy ambitions of destroying Israel are fulfilled," Mr Gillerman said. "Nothing - no initiatives, summits or declarations - can take the place of an end to Palestinian terror."
He said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would continue to meet with Mr Abbas, whose Fatah party recognises Israel, "but we will fight Hamas as if there were no Abbas".
He also warned the Palestinians and others in the region not to regard Israel's restraint "as a sign of acquiescence".
AP