PA daily: Abbas refused to not form government with Hamas when asked by the Americans
Headline: “Azzam Al-Ahmad, in charge of the [Hamas-Fatah] reconciliation: Hamas does not want to end the rift”
From an interview with Fatah Central Committee Member Azzam Al-Ahmad, who is in charge of the reconciliation with Hamas, to the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida
“Three days after we received the Egyptian document (i.e., the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, under Egyptian patronage), US Senator George Mitchell phoned. This was at 1:00 p.m. on Oct. 14, 2009. He started speaking in a most honorable, polite manner. I remember he began by saying: ‘Mr. President, [US] President Obama and the US government respect you, and we request that you not send a representative on your behalf to Cairo to sign the document.’ Later, Mitchel shifted to a threatening language and said: ‘We, the government, cannot control Congress, which threatens to halt aid to the Palestinian Authority if you sign the document with Hamas.’
President Mahmoud Abbas responded immediately: ‘Mr. Mitchel, the unity of our people means more than the satisfaction of Congress, and all the money in the world.’”
From an interview with Fatah Central Committee Member Azzam Al-Ahmad, who is in charge of the reconciliation with Hamas, to the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida
“Three days after we received the Egyptian document (i.e., the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, under Egyptian patronage), US Senator George Mitchell phoned. This was at 1:00 p.m. on Oct. 14, 2009. He started speaking in a most honorable, polite manner. I remember he began by saying: ‘Mr. President, [US] President Obama and the US government respect you, and we request that you not send a representative on your behalf to Cairo to sign the document.’ Later, Mitchel shifted to a threatening language and said: ‘We, the government, cannot control Congress, which threatens to halt aid to the Palestinian Authority if you sign the document with Hamas.’
President Mahmoud Abbas responded immediately: ‘Mr. Mitchel, the unity of our people means more than the satisfaction of Congress, and all the money in the world.’”