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Opinion: Palestinians cannot build a government that is backed by the kidnappers of children and the murderers of innocents

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tony-blair-with-benjamin-netanyahuBy Yossi Lempkowicz

Hamas involvement in last week’s kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers returning home from school places the recently formed Palestinian unity government under spotlight.

As Israeli security forces continue their search operation for the three boys, they arrested several Hamas leaders in connection with the kidnapping.

Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said: ”Hamas has begun “paying a heavy price, both in terms of arrests and assets.”

The abduction however has raised questions over the viability of the Palestinian unity government supported by Hamas.

Palestinian officials quoted in the Israeli media have suggested that this could bring an end to the reconciliation process.

If it is proved that Hamas was behind Thursday’s kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority will reevaluate its unity pact with Hamas, a senior official in the Palestinian Authority told The Times of Israel on 16 June.

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The official said that the kidnapping would mark a breach of the understandings between Fatah and Hamas, and would render their unity agreement null and void.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said that the assessment in Palestinian intelligence is that Hamas, or a faction within Hamas, was responsible for the kidnappings of Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frankel.

A Palestinian official suggested that, “there was an agreement that Hamas would refrain from terrorist attacks” as part of the unity deal. He continued to explain, “If it turns out that Hamas is responsible for the kidnapping, they will have crossed a red line and we won’t be able to continue the reconciliation.”

The kidnapping follows the recent establishment of the Palestinian unity government under a single authority backed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction in the West Bank and the Hamas rulers in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu said on Sunday, “Israel holds the Palestinian Authority and President Abbas responsible for any attacks against Israel that emanate from Palestinian- controlled territory.”

“The Hamas kidnappers came from territory under Palestinian Authority control and returned to territory under Palestinian Authority control,” Netanyahu told Abbas in a telephone.

During a meeting Tuesday with Quartet envoy Tony Blair, the Prime Minister said :

“Anybody who supports peace must tell the Palestinian Authority that they cannot build a government that is backed by the kidnappers of children and the murderers of innocents.”

Blair voiced his “outrage” at the kidnapping and commented that, “for Hamas, they have a very clear choice to make. There cannot be a choice that has political engagement on the one hand, and violence on the other.”

Moreover, the border region surrounding Gaza has witnessed sporadic rocket fire targeting Israeli towns over the past several days. The IDF has elevated its force posture in southern Israel, including the additional deployment of Iron Dome anti rocket systems. For its part, the Israeli Air Force has launched retaliatory strikes on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad bases in Gaza.

Until last April unity deal, the PA had cooperated closely with Israeli security forces in the West Bank, often helping them act against Hamas, which remains committed to the destruction of Israel.

Although PA forces are helping the Israeli army in the search for the missing teenagers, the kidnapping will raise questions over whether the PA can be a security partner for Israel whilst it is at the same time coordinating with Hamas.

Officials from the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas have spent recent days openly lashing out against the rival Hamas faction as evidence continued to emerge – acknowledged by the Americans, by the Israelis, and by Fatah officials themselves – that the terror group was linked to last Thursday’s abduction of three Israeli teenagers traveling through the West Bank.

Since the abduction, the two Palestinian partners have been speaking in different voices. While Fatah has condemned the kidnapping, Hamas has hailed it as a “heroic operation.”

Abbas has even instructed the Fatah-dominated security forces in the West Bank to assist Israel in the manhunt for the missing teenagers.

In contrast, Hamas has condemned Abbas’s stance. Several Hamas leaders and spokesmen in the Gaza Strip have even urged Abbas and the new government immediately to halt security coordination with Israel. They have dubbed it a “stab in the back of Palestinian resistance and prisoners” held by Israel.

“Those in the international community who said that President Abbas’ pact with Hamas would advance peace can now witness the true results of this union. Today it is clear that Hamas has exploited the pact to strengthen its presence in the West Bank, which has led to an increase in terrorist activity,” an Israeli source said.

“The claim that the Palestinian Authority is not responsible because the attack occurred in an area under Israeli control is baseless. What is relevant is not where the attack took place, but where the attack originated. The Hamas perpetrators set out from territory controlled by the PA,” the source added.

And it was precisely on the basis of Abbas’s assurances that the unity government would “renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist,” that the Obama administration and the EU rushed to announce that they would work with the new government, even as Hamas continued to deny Abbas’s claims.

“If it turns out that Hamas was indeed behind the kidnapping of the Israeli youths, it shows that the movement has kept its word to use the reconciliation pact with Fatah as a means to move its terror activities to the West Bank. Hamas’s ultimate goal is to extend its control to the West Bank, and not merely get new jobs and salaries from Abbas,” said Khaled Abu Toameh, an Arab Israeli journalist who writes for the Jerusalem Post and for the New York-based Gatestone Institute.

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