Скачать или смотреть Palestinian President meets Merkel, asks for support for new government

(23 Feb 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of German chancellor Angela Merkel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas walking on stage
2. Cutaway of photographer
3. SOUNDBITE: (German) Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany:
"We are of the opinion that both sides (Israel and Palestine) in this process of negotiation have to acknowledge the roadmap. But at the moment we have to consider that there are difficulties with the Hamas. And we have to distinguish here between Fatah and Hamas, because Hamas is not accepting the principles. We have to talk about this problem and we welcome any activity which brings the Hamas back on our way. It is not possible to negotiate a two-state solution if there is not an acceptance of the fact that one of the states exists."
4. Wide of Abbas and Merkel on stage
5. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority (PA):
"Our position regarding the final negotiations, which we hope to start right away, is clear, and it is the international legality. This means that we are not asking for anything more than what appeared in the roadmap plan. And if you would like, we can remind you of what appeared in the roadmap plan: (US) President (George W.) Bush's vision of a two-state solution, the end of the occupation which took place in the year (19)67 and the Arab initiative regarding the normalisation of relations with Israel and the issue of refugees. We are committed to the entirety of the roadmap plan. We are ready to place all this on the table, to discuss it and to arrive at a solution. These are our principles and conditions."
6. Close-up of reporters
7. Mid of handshake between Merkel and Abbas; zoom out as they leave stage
STORYLINE
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking during a visit by the Palestinian president on Friday, welcomed a plan for a Palestinian coalition government - but firmly underlined the European Union stance that any new government must recognise Israel.
"At the moment we have to consider that there are difficulties with the Hamas. And we have to distinguish here between Fatah and Hamas, because Hamas is not accepting the principles. We have to talk about this problem and we welcome any activity which brings the Hamas back on our way," Merkel said, following a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin.
"It is not possible to negotiate a two-state solution if there is not an acceptance of the fact that one of the states exists," she added.
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.
Abbas underlined his hopes that foreign aid - which formerly made up half the Palestinian Authority's budget - could begin flowing again under a new government, stressing that the Palestinian leadership was committed to the roadmap and US President George Bush's vision for peace in the Middle East.
"We are not asking for anything more than what appeared in the roadmap plan," Abbas said.
"We are committed to the entirety of the roadmap plan. We are ready to place all this on the table, to discuss it and to arrive at a solution," he added.
Merkel, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency, said the power-sharing deal reached between Abbas' Fatah and its Islamic rival Hamas was positive because it stopped the fighting between the two that cost some 130 lives.
The power-sharing deal skirts those issues, and Hamas still refuses to recognise the Jewish state.

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