TIMES OF ISRAEL
by Staff
August 29, 2014

Netanyahu urges Abbas to choose peace with Israel over unity pact with Hamas, saying he hopes for a PA-Hamas divorce

Operation Protective Edge has brought with it a diplomatic opportunity, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday. “There is now a reality that allows us to act according to our security interests on one hand and [on the other], start a new, responsible diplomatic initiative based on this new reality,” he told Israel’s Channel 10.

Netanyahu said that he hoped, following Hamas’s behavior during the 51-day conflict and the Shin Bet revelation earlier this month of a Hamas plot to overthrow the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, that PA President Mahmoud Abbas would now be able to see Hamas’s true colors and sever ties with the Islamist group.

“[Abbas] understands that this gang [Hamas] was plotting his overthrow and we thwarted it,” said Netanyahu, adding that he could “only hope Abbas would hand Hamas a ‘get’” — Hebrew for a divorce decree. Netanyahu said he hoped Abbas would choose Israel over a unity government with Hamas and suggested that if this were the case, he would be willing the pursue a peace deal in talks with the PA. “I think [Abbas] understands today that he must choose between a Hamas that doesn’t only call for [Israel’s] destruction, it also called for his overthrow, and in fact acted on it. I hope that we can cooperate with him on a diplomatic process,” said Netanyahu in the Channel 10 interview, an excerpt of which was aired Friday……

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