Israel Offers Incentives For Hamas Compliance
Ryan R. Jones - All Headline News Middle East Correspondent Jerusalem, Israel (AHN) - Israel on Monday offered substantial goodwill gestures to the Palestinians if Hamas softened its positions on the Jewish state and ordered the release of an Israeli soldier being held by terrorists in the Gaza Strip. Both Israel and the US have expressed disappointment that an emerging Palestinian unity government would not require Hamas to explicitly recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce terrorism, or abide by all previous agreements between Jerusalem and the Palestinian Authority. Talks between Hamas and PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction came to a halt earlier this week after Washington informed Abbas the terms of the unity government proposal were insufficient to lift crushing Western economic sanctions on the P.A. In addition to restarting the flow of foreign financial aid, Israel said it would consider freeing thousands of Palestinian security prisoners and releasing millions of dollars in withheld tax revenues if Hamas met the international community's peace demands. Government spokesman Mark Regev told the AP, "If they do that, then the Israeli commitment is to immediately follow through with substantial confidence building measures that would reinforce a positive momentum." Regev indicated that even a signal from Abbas during his meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in New York on Monday that Ham |
