Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas says the new unity government he is set to head with Hamas backing would reject violence and recognise Israel and existing agreements.
Abbas was speaking on Saturday to members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's Central Council, which had convened to chart a course of action after Israel suspended US-brokered peace talks in response to the deal with Hamas.
Israel said it would not negotiate with a government backed by Hamas, the armed Islamist movement ruling Gaza, which is pledged to the destruction of the Jewish state and has always rejected peace talks.
"The upcoming government will obey my policy," Abbas told members of his PLO on Saturday. "I recognise Israel and reject violence and terrorism, and recognise international commitments."
Abbas stressed that negotiations with Israel would not be held by the new government but rather by the PLO, which "represents the entire Palestinian people."
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The PLO is the internationally recognised representative of the Palestinians and their interlocutor in peace talks, while the Palestinian Authority was created as part of the Oslo peace process of the 1990s to administer the occupied Palestinian territories.
Abbas heads both, as well as the secular Fatah party, which dominates the PLO.
Under the Wednesday agreement signed in Gaza between Hamas and the PLO, Abbas would head an "independent government" of technocrats, to be formed within five weeks.
The new interim Palestinian administration would be charged with holding parliamentary and presidential elections within six months of taking office.
Israel and Western nations view Hamas as a terrorist organisation, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Abbas must chose between reconciling with the Islamist group and negotiating peace with the Jewish state.
Abbas also reiterated that the Palestinians would never recognise Israel as the "Jewish state," saying they recognised it as a state in 1993 and shouldn't have to accept its religious identity, which has been a central demand made by Netanyahu.
The Palestinian leader pointed out that no similar demand was made of Egypt or Jordan when they signed peace treaties recognising Israel.
