TIP-Reuters on Tuesday conveyed remarks made by Mahmoud Al-Zahar—a former Hamas foreign minister who the outlet described as one of the terror group’s “most influential voices”—emphasizing that Hamas would maintain its commitment to the eradication of Israel in the aftermath of a recently revealed unity agreement with the rival Palestinian Fatah faction, and that the Palestinian government envisioned by the agreement would follow that rejectionist stance. Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas had earlier in the week declared that the unity cabinet would remain under his political and ideological control, and that he would ensure that it recognized Israel, fulfilled binding Palestinian treaty obligations, and renounced violence. Hamas will not recognize Israel if a Palestinian unity government is formed, a top official of the Gaza-based terrorist said Tuesday. He also told Reuters the unity pact will not result in any Gaza terrorists coming under Abbas’s control.

Fatah and Hamas last week agreed to form a government within five weeks and to hold elections after six months.

The announcements—aimed at meeting international demands stretching back almost a decade that any such government accept those three Quartet conditions—were widely carried by international, Arab, and Israeli media outlets. The remarks prompted some diplomats to criticize the Israelis for having misread the situation, amid moves by Jerusalem to suspend talks pending the actual formation of the new Palestinian cabinet. Zahar belittled Abbas’s assertions, telling Reuters that “Abbas is not telling them the truth [when he] says ‘this is my government’… it is not his government” and that the Fatah leader’s statements about the new cabinet accepting Israel were hollow. Zahar suggested that the promises were efforts “to minimize the pressure” that Abbas is feeling from the West and to “guarantee that U.S. financial support will continue.”