Ramallah, March 25: Sweden's top diplomat offered
cautious support for the new Palestinian government on Sunday, but
said further steps are needed before the Hamas-Fatah coalition
can be given full international recognition.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said he welcomed
the Unity agreement between the Islamist Hamas and the more
moderate Fatah. He noted that "significant steps have been
taken" toward complying with three key international demands--
that the Palestinians renounce violence, recognize Israel and
commit to peace agreements.
The platform of the coalition does not explicitly meet
those demands, but Palestinian moderates say that its call for
an Israeli withdrawal from lands Israel occupied in the 1967
Mideast war is an implicit recognition of the Jewish state.
Bildt said his country would look "not only at the
words" of the new government, "but also at the deeds".
Bildt spoke at a news conference with Palestinian
Information Minister Mustafa Baghouti, a political independent
who has become the new coalition's chief spokesman.
Israel is maintaining a full boycott of the new
government, but the US and other countries, including Sweden,
are going ahead with contacts with independents and Fatah
representatives while avoiding Hamas members.
"We hope that Sweden and Europe will very quickly
recognize and deal with this government, and deal with it
officially, with all its ministers and with all its sections,"
Barghouti told reporters.
But Bildt said there are no immediate plans to hold
contacts with Hamas representatives.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, March 25, 2007, 00:00