Olmert balks at notion of peace talks

JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that peace talks with the Palestinian coalition government would be impossible as long as it refuses to renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist.

In a break from the Israelis, the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem said the United States wouldn’t rule out contact with non-Hamas members of the new government.

The Israeli Cabinet endorsed Olmert’s hard line, urging the West to maintain harsh economic sanctions imposed with last year’s election of the militant Islamic Hamas. Palestinians had hoped the new alliance between the moderate Fatah and Hamas would lead Israel and Western countries to lift the sanctions, urging the international community to give their new government a chance.

“We can’t have contact with members of a government that justifies resistance, or in other words, terror,” Olmert said, according to meeting participants.

Israel has grown concerned that the tough international stance against Hamas could crumble following the group’s power-sharing agreement with Fatah, and signs of that have begun to emerge.

Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, spokeswoman for the U.S. Consulate, said Sunday the United States would likely maintain contact with non-Hamas members of the new government.

Norway, a major donor to the Palestinians, already has agreed to resume aid. Britain and the United Nations also have signaled flexibility.

Palestinian officials urged Israel to reconsider.

“This statement continues the long-standing Israeli policy that says there is no Palestinian partner for peace,” said Azzam al-Ahmed of Fatah, the new deputy prime minister. “Israel doesn’t want to revive the peace process.”

The new Palestinian platform appears to soften Hamas’ militant stance. Though it refers to resistance “in all forms” to Israeli occupation, it also calls for consolidating and expanding a truce with Israel.

The platform appears to implicitly recognize Israel by calling for a Palestinian state on lands the Israelis captured in 1967, in contrast with Hamas’ past calls to eliminate Israel altogether.

Israel and the Quartet of Mideast peacemakers – the U.S., European Union, U.N. and Russia – imposed sanctions against the Palestinians last year after Hamas was elected to power, labeling the Islamist group with a history of suicide bombings a terrorist group. Despite widespread economic hardship, Hamas rejected the Quartet’s conditions for explicit recognition of Israel.