Britain would be willing to negotiate with a Hamas-led Palestinian government if it meets international demands that it renounce violence and recognize Israel, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and negotiators from the ruling militant Hamas movement have reached agreement in principle on forming a government of technocrats, a Hamas cabinet minister said Monday.
Blair said Britain would work with such a government if it met the demands the Quartet of would-be peacemakers has been making for months.
'You can't negotiate a two-state solution, Israel and Palestine, if one part of the people you're negotiating with is saying 'We don't want Israel to exist,'' Blair said at his monthly news conference.
Abbas was to travel to the Gaza Strip on Monday afternoon for talks with Hamas on a unity goverment, Palestinian officials said, a possible signal that the two sides were nearing agreement on forming a new government.
The platform of the new government would be intentionally vague, especially on the issue of recognizing Israel. It is not clear whether that would be acceptable to the international community, which has called on the Palestinian government to recognize Israel, renounce violence, and accept past agreements with Israel.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Hamas-led administration said Monday that the group has chosen a candidate to take over as prime minister from one of its leaders once agreement on a unity government is finalised with Abbas.
Ghazi Hamad declined to identify the Islamist group's proposed replacement for Ismail Haniyeh in a deal with Abbas's Fatah group that Palestinians hope can ease Western sanctions aimed at pressuring Hamas to soften its anti-Israel line.
'There has been an agreement within Hamas over the name, which will be announced to the president in a meeting between him and the prime minister,' Hamad said, indicating the group reserved the right to pick the head of a new cabinet.
The Palestinian daily Al-Ayam reported Sunday that the formation of a new technocratic Palestinian unity government was expected to be announced by Tuesday. It said that all outstanding issues between Hamas and Fatah had been resolved, with the exception of who will be the next Palestinian prime minister.
According to the report, the prime minister would not be a member of Hamas, although Hamas is demanding that the candidate be affiliated with the group, as first reported in Haaretz. Abbas wants the prime minister to be entirely independent.
Hamas and Fatah have agreed that all government ministers will be technocrats chosen by the various parties, and that the PA diplomatic platform will be based on the 'Prisoner's Document.'
The document calls for a Palestinian state, alongside Israel, on all of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Israeli officials have objected to the plan because it also endorses the 'right of return' for Palestinian refugees to come back to lost properties in Israel, and endorses attacks in areas captured in the 1967 Six Day War, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Affiliation of candidate unclear
Hamad did not say whether Hamas's candidate belonged to the movement, which advocates Israel's destruction.
'We are exerting every possible effort to conclude this in the near future. If we agree on the issue of the prime minister between the president and the party that names the prime minister, all other issues will be easy,' Hamad said.
There was no immediate comment from Abbas, whose faction was defeated by Hamas in a Palestinian election in January.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Abbas aide, spoke prior to Hamad's comments of naming 'an independent prime minister' who would help 'lift the siege imposed on the Palestinians'.
Hamas lawmaker and senior leader Yahya Moussa announced on Sunday an agreement in principle with Fatah on a unity government that would not be headed by Haniyeh.
But Hamas spokesmen have stressed it will never recognise Israel or join a government that did, rejecting one of the main conditions set by the Quartet of Middle East peace brokers for renewing direct aid to the Palestinian Authority.
Mustafa Barghouthi, an independent lawmaker who has been mediating between Hamas leaders and Abbas, confirmed late on Sunday that a tentative deal had been made.
'There is approval to form a new government headed by a new prime minister,' Barghouthi said. 'We are preparing for a meeting between President Abbas and Prime Minister Haniyeh very soon.'