hamas/fatah, predict US no, Europeans yes, Canada?

now this will be interesting to see which way Canada will follow .... bush way or the right way?

Makkah Deal Could Isolate US, Israel
IslamOnline Feb. 9, 2007

RAMALLAH — The European Union is expected to adopt a more flexible approach towards a Fatah-Hamas agreement to form a national unity government, which will possibly "isolate" the United States and Israel, and throw the ball in their courts, experts and analysts said Friday, February 9.

"At the international level, the agreement is going to see breaches in the European position, which could put Israel and the United States in an awkward position," Samir Awad, head of the political science department at Bir Zeit, the West Bank's most prestigious university, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Signed Thursday, February 8, by Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal in the holy city of Makkah in Saudi Arabia, the deal has been billed as a chance to end fighting in which 100 Palestinians have died in two months, win back Western aid and resume peace efforts.

France was the first European country to welcome the deal, while other European Union countries were cautiously positive on the accord.

"The inclusion in this government's program of respecting international resolutions and agreements signed by the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) constitutes a step in the right direction towards full adherence to the international community's demands," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said in a statement.

EU diplomats said it was too early to expect any decision on lifting a freeze on direct aid to the Palestinian government when the 27-nation bloc's foreign ministers meet on Monday, February 12, but they were likely to issue a positive statement on the agreement.

The United States and the European Union suspended aid to and contact with the Palestinian government last year after Hamas took office. The aid cutoff and blocking of Arab and Muslim donations have plunged the Palestinian territories in the worst economic crisis in decades.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa called on the quartet of Middle East mediators — the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — to take the Palestinian agreement into consideration "and to consequently lift the embargo", the League said in a statement.

US ally Egypt, which has been involved in mediation attempts between Fatah and Hamas, also welcomed the agreement, calling it "a big step in the right direction."

Gradual Change

The United States has so far withheld comment until it sees details of the deal, although it has reiterated that any government must recognize Israel, "renounce violence" and comply with past Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.

Israeli officials remained steadfast in those demands Friday.

"There will be no rejoicing unless the new Palestinian government accepts the Quartet (EU, Russian, UN and US) conditions," Ophir Pines, a prominent MP in the coalition Labour party, told public radio.

George Giacaman, director of the Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy, agreed that the deal would not likely satisfy American and Israeli decisions unlike the Europeans.

"I think the Europeans are more or less ready to deal with it. In my opinion, the Americans and Israelis won't for the moment," he told AFP.

The expert said he is confident that there will be a change in the international position in the days to come.

"But it will be gradual," concluded Giacaman.

Israel's leading Haaretz daily said the incoming Palestinian cabinet "creates a real problem for Israel.

"Israel and the US will have trouble demanding that the international economic boycott of the Palestinian government remain in place," Haaretz said.