Lie Down With DOGS, Get Up With FLEAS - AB Palestinians Under Arab Pressure to Meet Demands By Adam Entous http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070224/ts_nm/palestinians_dc JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Jordan's King Abdullah said in an interview broadcast on Saturday there was broad Arab agreement that a Palestinian unity government must adhere to the demands of the Quartet of Middle East mediators. King Abdullah's comments on Israeli television were the first from an Arab leader to cast doubt on the willingness of major Arab donors to sidestep a U.S.-led embargo of the Hamas-led government unless it commits to recognizing Israel, renouncing violence and accepting interim peace deals. Since the unity government agreement was signed in Mecca earlier this month, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal have been lobbying Arab and European countries to lift the economic embargo, which has pushed the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority to the brink of financial collapse and increased poverty among the people. After meeting with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris on Saturday, Abbas said he was encouraged by the "wait and see" approach taken by the Quartet, comprised of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. "We hope that the embargo will be lifted ... If the situation were to continue as it currently is, the Palestinian people would suffer," Abbas said. Speaking in Khartoum, Meshaal said: "The U.S. administration has no choice but to respect the will of the Palestinians and the Arab support for the Palestinian accord." But King Abdullah, in an interview with Israel's Channel 2 television, said he understood Israeli concerns that the power-sharing deal fails to meet the Quartet's demands. "You're not alone on this," he said. "There's international common ground -- not just Western but also Arab and to an extent Muslim -- that believe that there have to be certain criteria that the new government has to accept if we're going to move the process forward." ARAB INITIATIVE King Abdullah said the new government "will have to adhere to the Quartet conditions." The king, who became ruler of Jordan in 1999, four years after the country signed a peace treaty with Israel, backs Abbas and a renewal of peace talks. Jordanian officials had privately supported U.S.-led efforts to isolate the Hamas-led government that took power after winning January 2006 elections, increasing pressure on the militant group to embraced Middle East peace moves. "It's not just ... the international players, but also the Arab countries are also expecting the new Palestinian government to adhere to the policies that we have set out in the Quartet, and in the Arab Quartet also," King Abdullah said, referring to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. The unity deal contains a vague promise to "respect" Israeli-Palestinian pacts. But it does not commit the incoming government to abiding by those pacts, nor to recognizing Israel and renouncing violence as the Quartet demanded. King Abdullah said Abbas should be given "the mandate to start negotiations with the Israelis," and the new government should be in "full compliance with the Arab Accord as well as international commitments." The Arab initiative, launched in 2002, would trade diplomatic recognition for Israel's withdrawal from land it occupied in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. King Abdullah said the initiative was being re-launched and could draw broader support from Muslim countries. Abbas's power-sharing deal with Hamas has widened rifts within the Quartet. Washington wants to shun the new government to keep pressure on Hamas. Russia and some European states favor a softer line in order to support an agreement that has stemmed fierce fighting between Fatah and Hamas factions. Four Palestinians were killed in clashes between rival clans in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, but both sides said the fighting was not motivated by political rivalries. (Additional reporting by Francois Murphy in Paris, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman and Aziz El-Kaissouni in Khartoum) AB [EMAIL PROTECTED] First They Came for the EXTREMIST, FUNDAMENTALIST & MODERATE Muslims. And I DIDNT Speak Out Because I Wasn't An Extremist, Fundamentalist or a Moderate Muslim. Then FINALLY They Came for Me the NON-PRACTICING Muslim And NO Muslims Were Left to Speak Out for ME.
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