Israel Responds to PA-Hamas Unity with More Housing for Jews

Israel, “deeply disappointed” by US acceptance of the new Palestinian government, has responded with tenders for 1,500 new homes in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. 

Israeli officials are profoundly disturbed by the US administration’s decision to work with the Palestinian unity government, which includes Hamas, a terrorist organization bent on the destruction of the Jewish State.

The response on Thursday to American recognition of the new Palestinian government was the announcement of construction of new homes for Jews living in east Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, the historic heartland of the Hebrew nation.

Building homes is “an appropriate Zionist response to the Palestinian terror government,” stated Housing Minister Uri Ariel, who said that Israel has published tenders for 1,500 apartments .

“Based on what we know now, we intend to work with this [Palestinian] government,” US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki declared earlier this week, adding that the US administration will continue its financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, which totals approximately $500 million annually.

US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf claimed that the Palestinian government “is not a government backed by Hamas” because “there are no members of Hamas in the government.”

Secretary of State John Kerry, who traveled back and forth to the region continually over the past year in a failed effort to broker a peace agreement between Israel and the PA, similarly defended the US position to work with the Palestinian government, saying:

“Based on what we know now about the composition of this technocratic government, which has no minister affiliated to Hamas and is committed to the principles that I describe, we will work with it as we need to, as appropriate.”

That position seems to ignore the fact that the Palestinian government, the result of a reconciliation pact between PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party and Hamas, was finalized only when Fatah gave in at the last moment to Hamas’s demands.

This means, as pointed out by Israel Hayom, that “Hamas has substantial influence,” adding that when elections are held later this year, “Hamas may very well win a commanding presence at the ballot box, as it did in 2006.”

“We are deeply disappointed by the comments of the State Department regarding working with the Palestinian unity government,” said an Israeli spokesperson. “This Palestinian government is a government backed by Hamas, which is a terror organization committed to Israel’s destruction.”

Israeli Ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer also stated that Israel was “deeply disappointed with the State Department’s comments…on the Palestinian unity government with Hamas, a terrorist organization responsible for the murder of many hundreds of Israelis, which has fired thousands of rockets at Israeli cities, and which remains committed to Israel’s destruction.”

Hamas Remains Committed to Israel’s Destruction

“Had Hamas changed, it would be one thing. But Hamas hasn’t changed. It remains as committed to Israel’s destruction today as it was yesterday,” Dermer said.

“This Palestinian unity government is a government of technocrats backed by terrorists, and should be treated as such. With suits in the front office and terrorists in the back office, it should not be business as usual,” he added.

Minister of Intelligence Dr. Yuval Steinitz on Thursday released the following statement:

“Pursuant to US Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement to the effect that the new Palestinian government is ‘committed to previous agreements’, we must ask: Is it his intention to now demand that Abu Mazen [Abbas] and his government publicly reiterate their commitment to ‘the principle of complete demilitarization’, which constitutes a cornerstone of the Oslo accords, and to begin dismantling and destroying the thousands of missiles stationed in the Gaza Strip?

“If not,” Steinitz asserted, “the Palestinian remarks about ‘honoring previous agreements’ border on deception and fraud.”

The terrorist Palestine Liberation Organization was created in 1964, three years before Israel won the Six Day War in self-defense, capturing east Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the Sinai and the Golan Heights.

Abbas stated this week that the PLO remains “the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.”

Written by: United with Israel Staff