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Greek and Israeli presidents disagree

Updated: 14/Feb/2006 19:00

Israeli President Moshe Katsav and his wife Gila paid a visit to the Acropolis archaeological site in Athens.

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Greek President Karolos Papoulias and his Israeli counterpart Moshe Katsav, who started Tuesday a historic official visit to Greece, have shown clear differences on the interpretation of last month’s Palestinian legislative elections.

Following a meeting with Katsav in Athens, Papoulias said he felt the smooth Palestinian parliamentary elections “is a significant step toward democracy.” He also stressed the need for Hamas to accept the positions expressed by the European Union and condemn terrorism.”

In his comments, Papoulias added that he believed the main goal is the coexistence of two states in the region, “a secure Israel and a democratic Palestine enjoying peaceful relations with its neighbors.”

Hamas has won a large victory at the January elections and is expected to form a new Palestinian government within the next two to three months.

Israeli concern

For his part, Katsav expressed concern that the latest developments will not help and will “take us 12 years back”, pointing to the period following the Oslo Accords when the Palestinian Authority was formed.

“Israel will not accept the continuation of terrorism by Hamas nor negotiate with a Hamas that does not recognize the state of Israel,” the Israeli president added.

“Israel will not start from point zero after the great steps it made. If Hamas changes its position, Israel will come into contact with it”, he stressed.

Katsav noted that Israel’s relations with the Palestinians are at a crucial stage after Hamas’ victory and added that in the past 12 years Israel has made big historic steps for the good of the Palestinians.

Katsav referred to the common historical past and common interests shared by Israel and Greece, expressing the hope that bilateral contacts between the two countries will multiply in the future.

“There can be different views but this should not be frightening because cooperation between Greece and Israel cannot be hurt by any third factor given the fact that above everything else it serves the two countries,” Katsav said.

“The more these contacts are the fewer the lack-of-understanding situations,” he added.

Industrial cooperation

After the meeting, a cooperation agreement on industrial research and development was signed by the Greek Minister of Development and the Israeli Minister to the prime minister’s office.

Papoulias and Katsav are scheduled to visit Thursday the northern city of Thessaloniki to pay tribute to the 50,000 thousands of Greek Jews who died in the Holocaust.

“The historic memory should guide us so that the next generations will not live such a tragedy.” Papoulias said, referring to the memories he had of the Jews in his hometown Ioannina who fought against the Nazis.