Haaretz Service and News Agencies, 00:12 21/06/2007
Abbas: No dialogue with 'murderous terrorists' in Hamas
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday harshly criticized the
Islamic Hamas movement for seizing control in the Gaza Strip last week, and branded
its members as "murderous terrorists" who carried out a "coup."
Speaking Wednesday in a televised address to the Palestinian people, Abbas
accused Hamas of attacking national symbols during its takeover of Gaza.
Over the weekend, Abbas set up the new West Bank-based government after
dissolving the coalition between Hamas and his own Fatah movement following the
Hamas' armed takeover of Gaza.
Abbas said Hamas had replaced the national project with its project of darkness,
attacking the symbols of government in Gaza, including the house of the late leader
Yasser Arafat.
"There is no dialogue with those murderous terrorists," Abbas said.
Abbas accused Hamas of trying to set up its own state in Gaza alone, a step he said
would scuttle Palestinian hopes for independence. He said he had "tried to prevent the
conflict through continuous dialogue. Instead, we are seeing assassination of leaders
of Palestinian security and Fatah in Gaza."
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri hotly rejected Abbas' statements. "What he said
was disgusting and not appropriate for the Palestinian president," the Hamas official
said. "The president [Abbas] has harmed himself with his words."
Last week, in a lighting military-style operation, Hamas militias routed the numerically
superior Fatah security forces and took over their bases, leaving Abbas' Fatah in
control of the West Bank.
Abbas said the conflict continues. "It's a fight between the national project and this
small kingdom they want to establish in Gaza, the kingdom of Gaza, between those
who are using assassination and killing to achieve their goals, and those who are
using the rules of law."
Abbas accused Hamas of trying to assassinate him when he planned a visit to Gaza
a month ago, digging a tunnel under a road where his car was to pass and trying to fill
it with 250 kilograms of explosives. He said he received videotapes of the operation,
showing militants with Hamas signs on their shirts carrying out the work. He
dismissed Hamas claims that the explosives tunnel was aimed at Israelis.
"I have sent these tapes to all the Arab countries, to show how much this dark
movement is acting," he said. He also sent the tape to Hamas' Syrian-based political
leader Khaled Meshal, to illustrate Hamas intentions.
He repeated his earlier declaration that the Hamas militia in Gaza is now illegal and
warned Israel not to take advantage of the Gaza situation to tighten its control of the
West Bank.
Earlier Wednesday, Abbas convened the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
ruling body, in a move aimed at boosting support for his newly formed emergency
cabinet.
"The aim of today's meeting is to topple the coup plotters in Gaza," council member
Ahmed Abdel Rahman of Fatah told reporters before the Wednesday session began,
referring to Hamas.
The 129-strong Palestine Central Council, dominated by Fatah, was also expected to
express support for the new government during its two-day session in the West Bank
city of Ramallah, Palestinian officials said. Some Hamas officials are technically
entitled to sit on the PCC but it seemed unlikely many would attend.
"One of the main issues of discussion will be to reiterate the legitimacy of the
decisions taken by President Abbas with regard to the bloody coup by Hamas," said
Ahmad Majdalani, a member of the council.
Another PCC member said the body would also debate the possibility of moving up
the election for PA chairman, in addition to a parliamentary poll now scheduled for
2010.
It was the Central Council that set up the Palestinian Authority for the Gaza Strip and
West Bank, in a 1993 decision taken at Tunis, where PLO leaders including the late
Yasser Arafat were once based. Many of its members still live in exile.
Riyad al-Malki, information minister in the new cabinet, said Abbas would announce
policy steps aimed at further distancing his government from the former government
Hamas still says that it heads.
One of these steps would be the issuing of new Palestinian passports from the West
Bank city of Ramallah from July, invalidating the current travel documents, Malki said.
He said the step was taken after the passport office in Gaza was vandalized and
"destroyed" Wednesday.
All citizens will be required to change their travel documents to papers issued in the
West Bank - in effect invalidating documents previously issued in Gaza, al-Malki said.
He also said that the new government has annulled all decisions made by the
previous Hamas government, and that security personnel would be deployed in force
in the West Bank to restore law and order.
Hamas calls for new government
Meanwhile, a senior exiled Hamas leader called Wednesday for the formation of a
new Palestinian goverment made up of independent technocrats without Fatah or
Hamas members as a way out of the crisis sparked by the Hamas takeover.
The new government's members are all independents, but Hamas official Moussa Abu
Marzouk appeared to be calling for a new one, formed in consultation with the militant
group.
"All possibilities are open now. We can reach a consensus on a government - a
technocrat government - that includes neither Fatah nor Hamas," said Abu Marzouk,
the Damascus-based deputy head of Hamas' political bureau.
"The government could not work without a Palestinian consensus, especially between
Fatah and Hamas," he said.
Abbas has rejected talks with Hamas since the Gaza takeover, while Hamas has
called his government illegal. The international community has embraced Abbas,
while shunning Hamas.
Abu Marzouk criticized what he said were moves by Abbas to move all ministries to
the West Bank.
"This shows that there is a plot being carried out by some Palestinians in an
irresponsible and unprecedented way to separate Gaza from the West Bank," he
said.
He said Hamas welcomes any Arab initiative to try and resolve the current Palestinian
crisis.
Army of Islam: We will release details of assassinations by Hamas. The Army of
Islam - the organization holding kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston - announced
Wednesday that it intends to release information about the group's past collaborations
with Hamas, including details of assassinations of senior Palestinian officials that
Hamas was involved in.
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