Hamas Sides With Fatah on Seeking Palestinian State

June 27 (Bloomberg) -- Hamas, starved of foreign aid for the Palestinian Authority, sided with its rival Fatah and agreed for the first time to seek a state that would exist alongside Israel, according to a group involved in the talks.

The political movements, along with other factions, accepted a document drafted by prominent Palestinian prisoners that describes a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, said Sallah Zeidan, an official from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which participated in three weeks of negotiations.

A common platform would help ease the power struggle between Hamas and Fatah and might provide stability to the Palestinian Authority. The authority needs access to international aid cut off because of Hamas's refusal to accept Israel.

Political analysts cautioned that the agreement falls short of recognizing Israel's right to exist.

``This is not a significant building block for a relationship with Israel because it is not an explicit recognition of a two-state solution, and leaves open the possibility that Hamas can attack Israel in the future,'' said Ben Fishman, an aide to former U.S. negotiator Dennis Ross at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Gaza, Abduction

Saeb Erekat of Fatah, the chief Palestinian negotiator, told the New York Times that the accord with Hamas isn't finished and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is still reviewing it. ``We have a difficult situation on our hands in Gaza, and it's the wrong time to conclude this document,'' he was quoted as saying.

European and Arab mediators are seeking the release of an abducted Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip, to prevent an Israeli incursion into the coastal Palestinian territory. Israeli soldiers and settlers pulled out of Gaza last year.

Hamas, which runs the Palestinian Authority, needs to restore money from the U.S., European Union and other countries that the World Bank estimates totaled $1.1 billion last year. Direct assistance was halted after Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the donors, took control of the government in March after winning January elections, and refused to renounce its hostility toward Israel.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, said Israeli officials hadn't seen the draft Palestinian document. He said he doubted it met the three ``benchmarks'' Israel and Western nations had set: that Hamas recognize Israel unequivocally, renounce terrorism and accept previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, including the Oslo and Camp David peace accords.

In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow declined to comment, saying ``we have not seen anything formal.''

Conditional Aid

The U.S. is among countries that have made the aid conditional on a Hamas agreement to foreswear violence and accept international commitments the Authority had undertaken while it was ruled by Fatah.

The factions began talks on reaching a common position for relations with Israel at the end of May, amid a threat by Abbas to call a national referendum to bring the matter to voters. Hamas, whose political wing is led by Prime Minister Ismael Hania, has been sworn to Israel's destruction, while Abbas's Fatah favors negotiations.

``The Palestinian factions participating in the national dialogue have agreed to the document of national accordance that was drafted by leaders of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails,'' Zeidan said in a telephone interview.

Islamic Jihad

Kader Habib, a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad movement, told reporters in Gaza that an agreement had been reached and said Abbas and Hania may meet as early as today to sign it. He said Islamic Jihad's leaders won't sign the agreement.

The talks were based on a document agreed on May 10 by prisoners from several Palestinian factions. In it, they call for a ``re-evaluation'' of the best means of continuing the ``struggle against the occupation'' by Israel of the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The document in turn is based on an Arab- wide peace initiative agreed on at a Beirut conference in 2002.

Hamas-Fatah Coalition

The prisoners also call for establishing a Hamas-Fatah coalition government and for negotiations with Israel to be conducted by the Palestine Liberation Organization, rather than the Palestinian Authority. It also would bar attacks inside Israel's pre-1967 borders.

``Signing the agreement on the prisoners' document will open the door for forming a national coalition government instead of the Hamas-led one,'' Zeidan said.

The talks came amid growing violence in the Gaza Strip as Hamas and Fatah members competed for power after Hamas's victory in legislative elections in January. Fatah controls the presidency and security forces, while Hamas controls the Cabinet and legislature.

While Hamas controls a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council, an opinion poll taken June 15-18 showed that most voters favor the terms of the prisoners' document. A survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that 85 percent of 1,270 adults polled supported a Palestinian state in areas occupied by Israel since 1967.

The survey, which had a margin of error of three percentage points, found an equal percentage supported a ``national unity government.''

Update:

U.S. waiting to see more on Hamas deal