After months of wavering, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took a decisive step Monday toward reconciliation with the Islamic militant group Hamas, a move Israel warned would close the door to future peace talks.
In a deal brokered by Qatar, Abbas will head an interim unity government to prepare for general elections in Palestinian territories in the coming months.
The agreement appeared to bring reconciliation, a key to statehood ambitions, in reach for the first time since the two sides set up rival Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza in 2007.
The deal, signed Monday in Doha, Qatar, by Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal, ended recent efforts by the international community to revive stalled talks between Israel and Palestinians on Palestinian statehood.
Abbas seems to have concluded he has a better chance of repairing relations with Hamas, shunned by the West as a terror group, than reaching an accord with Israeli hardline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who condemned the deal. "It's either peace with Hamas or peace with Israel. You can't have them both," he said to Abbas, who has had wide international support.
In moving closer to Hamas, Abbas risks losing some backing and millions in aid. Qatar, awash in cash from vast oil and gas reserves, assured Palestinians it would help limit political and financial damages, said Palestinian officials close to the talks.
Whether the Palestinian Authority loses any of the roughly $1 billion in foreign aid it gets each year may depend on the interim government's political platform and Hamas' willingness to stay in the background.
The new government is to be made up of politically independent experts, according to the Doha accord. If headed by Abbas, without Hamas members and run by his principles, it could make a case to be accepted by the West. Abbas aides say they're optimistic of winning international recognition.
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