Haniyeh: Hamas Won't Recognize Israel

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of the Islamic group Hamas, gestures during his speech at a Hamas rally during which he briefly fainted at a soccer stadium in Gaza City, Friday, Oct. 6, 2006. Haniyeh, 46, is fasting, like all observant Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan. The speech was delivered on a hot autumn day. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa) (Hatem Moussa - AP)

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Sunday his Hamas-led government will not recognize Israel and has problems with a widely touted Arab peace plan because it does.

International assistance to the Palestinians has dried up because the militant Hamas movement will not recognize Israel and renounce violence.

But Haniyeh repeated the Islamic militant group's hardline principle the despite the crippling Western sanctions which have bankrupted his government, led to strikes and demonstrations by public service workers and clashes between Hamas forces and police identified with the rival Fatah.

Haniyeh, addressing an "Iftar" feast at the end of a day of Ramadan fasting, said Hamas and the government "will not recognize or normalize" relations with Israel.

He also said the main problem with the Arab peace plan, presented in 2002 by Saudi Arabia and endorsed by an Arab summit, is that it recognizes Israel in exchange for an Israeli pullout from the West Bank, Gaza Strip, east Jerusalem and Golan Heights.

Haniyeh said he still hopes for a unity government with Fatah. But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads Fatah, said last week that negotiations have broken down. Abbas was expected to travel from the West Bank to Gaza Monday and may present Hamas a deadline for agreeing to a unity government. Otherwise, aides say, Abbas might call a new election.

Haniyeh hinted that peacemaking with Israel could be left up to Abbas. Haniyeh said the unity concept "leaves a lot of room for political maneuvering" for Abbas.

The U.S. has made it clear that the option of a Hamas-led government maintaining its militant policy while Abbas conducts peace talks is unacceptable.

The United States and Europe have insisted that any Palestinian government must accept three basic conditions before the West resumes its aid: recognition of Israel, renunciation of violence and acceptance of previous Israeli-Palestinian peace deals.

Jordan's foreign minister warned Sunday that Palestinians face "a humanitarian tragedy" unless peacemaking with Israel resumes quickly.

"It is absolutely necessary to consolidate international efforts to provide assistance to the needy Palestinian people," Abdul-Ilah al-Khatib told visiting U.N. Mideast envoy Alvaro De Soto in Amman, the Jordanian capital.

Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres advised patience.