Quartet Principles

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The Quartet on the Middle East (the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations) set three conditions for recognizing a Palestinian government and for international aid. The three Quartet Principles are:
- Non-violence
- Recognition of Israel’s right to exist
- Respect for past Israel–Palestine peace agreements

These rules were first announced in October 2005 and reaffirmed in January 2006 after Hamas won the Palestinian elections. The Quartet said aid to a Hamas-led government would depend on accepting these three conditions. Before the 2006 elections, the Quartet warned that taking part in elections while maintaining armed militias was not compatible with the peace process. In December 2005 they urged participants to renounce violence, recognize Israel, and disarm, and they said any future Palestinian government should not include members unwilling to honor these principles.

Hamas won the January 2006 election, and the Quartet pressed for acceptance of the three conditions; by March 2006 Hamas had not accepted them. After the March 2007 formation of a Palestinian unity government, the Quartet reaffirmed the principles, but the unity government rejected them, and international aid remained restricted. During the Fatah–Hamas fighting in 2007, the Quartet again emphasized the aid embargo unless there was Palestinian unity and adherence to the principles.

In 2008 the UN Security Council called on states to support a Palestinian government committed to the Quartet Principles and the Arab Peace Initiative in preparation for statehood. The United States backed this stance, and Israel welcomed it, though Palestinians saw it as unclear.

When a new Hamas-led unity government formed in March 2007, the Quartet again said aid would resume only if it followed the three principles. Hamas’s leader said the government would respect past peace accords but also argued for resistance.

In July 2016 the Quartet published ten recommendations to restart the peace process, including reunifying Gaza and the West Bank under a single Palestinian authority based on the PLO, the Quartet Principles, and the rule of law.

In October 2017, after the Palestinian Authority visited Gaza, the United States reiterated that Hamas must meet the Quartet Principles for any government to receive diplomatic recognition.