BERLIN - Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday welcomed a proposed Palestinian coalition -- but firmly underlined in talks with President Mahmoud Abbas the European Union stance that any new government must recognize Israel.
Abbas, on a European tour to build support for an eventual lifting of a crippling international aid embargo, said Palestinians were suffering under the cutoff, but held out hope that the new government will satisfy the donors' conditions.
Merkel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said the power-sharing deal reached between Abbas' Fatah faction and the Islamic Hamas was positive because it stopped the fighting between the two factions that had cost some 130 lives in the past few months.
"It is good that the bloodletting, especially in Gaza, has been stopped but there is a difficult stretch in front of us," Merkel said after meeting with Abbas in Berlin.
But she returned to the conditions imposed by the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators -- from the EU, U.N., U.S., and Russia -- that any new government must give up violence, recognize Israel and accept existing agreements reached with Israel. The power-sharing deal skirts those issues, and Hamas still refuses to recognize the Jewish state.
That has left the Quartet in a holding pattern, waiting to see what kind of government emerges, amid a sense that the more moderate Abbas is not entirely in control of the situation. Analysts say that the best Abbas can do on this trip is convince European governments they should remain open to the possibility of recognizing a government that includes Hamas. On Wednesday, Abbas met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Merkel said the two had extensive discussions but she showed no wiggle room on the international demands.
"We welcome the formation of a national unity government, under the condition that certain measures are fulfilled," Merkel said. "That would mean that Israel's right to exist would be recognized, that violence would end and that international negotiations, as they already exist, be accepted."
She added that "a lot of work is yet to be done."
The Quartet has met twice this month after a dormant period, after a push from Merkel and the United States. But Israel has said it won't deal with Abbas on a long-term peace deal if he goes ahead with a coalition with Hamas, limiting immediate prospects for progress toward a solution.
Abbas underlined his hopes that foreign aid -- which formerly made up half the budget of the Palestinian authority -- could begin flowing again under a new government.
"For eight or nine months our people have been suffering under this boycott," Abbas said. "We hope that by the time a new government is formed several things will happen that will improve the situation." He didn't elaborate.
Abbas restated his position that Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit, abducted by Palestinian militants, be released, and that Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails be set free.
