Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Monday that the events in Gaza have clarified the distinction between what she called "extremists and moderates" in the Palestinian Authority. She called on the European Union to take appropriate steps in relation to each group. For its part, Livni stated, Israel is considering releasing $700 million it has collected in taxes on behalf of the PA, but has not delivered ever since Hamas was elected to power in January 2006.
The Foreign Minister made her comments at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday.
"The events in Gaza have exposed the reality that the Hamas was trying to hide by means of the unity government," said Minister Livni. "Today, the distinction between extremists and moderates has been made sharper than ever. Europe and the entire world community must now take a side. So must the Arab world. Europe must adopt a strategy that, on the one hand, puts uncompromising pressure on the extremists, without granting them legitimacy, and, on the other hand, gives a political and economic horizon to the new Palestinian government."
Representatives of the EU said the 27 member-states would start making payments to the PA again, now that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas dissolved the unity government with Hamas. Livni discussed the renewal of funding by the EU and Israel as part of a general plan to create distance between "moderate" and "extreme" elements within the PA.
'The Future State of Palestine'
Israel is considering releasing $700 million it has collected in taxes on behalf of the PA.
In an article by Foreign Minister Livni published in the London-based Arabic newspaper A-Sharq Al-Awsat, she blamed PA Arabs for their current plight, noting that terrorists constantly have targeted Israelis. "The future State of Palestine must not be a terror state," she wrote.
Laying out her vision for the Middle East, Livni's article said, "The truth is that the peoples of the Middle East share the same fate. We are destined to be neighbors. Our futures are inevitably linked together. And no peace will be lasting if it fails to take this fact into account." She explained that, in contrast, "zero-sum logic" has ruled the Middle East thus far, adding that "Israel's positions have been misrepresented or misunderstood."
Israel was created "to be a peaceful democratic and Jewish State," Livni wrote, and "these very values lead us to embrace the vision of two homelands, two states - Israel and Palestine - living side by side in peace and security."