Posted on 05/27/2006 6:41:18 PM PDT by blam
Hamas rejects Abbas call for peace talks with Israel
By Harry de Quetteville in Ramallah
(Filed: 28/05/2006)
Hamas, the radical Islamic group that won January's election, yesterday rejected a deadline issued by the Palestinians' moderate president, Mahmoud Abbas, to choose between violence or peace talks with Israel.
At the same time, a Hamas militia involved in factional clashes with Palestinian police in Gaza that have left 10 dead, was sent back onto the streets, only a day after it was withdrawn.
Mahmoud Abbas: Deadline
Its return seems to signal the end of a short-lived effort to defuse tensions between Hamas, which remains committed to Israel's destruction, and its rival, the secular Fatah Party of Mr Abbas, which is willing to seek a negotiated settlement with the Jewish state.
Talks between the two Palestinian groups have ground to a halt, and they have engaged in open political and military confrontation that has brought them perilously close to outright civil war.
As attitudes hardened yesterday, there was harsh criticism for Mr Abbas from leading Hamas figures, who were wrong-footed by his surprise announcement last week that he would force a referendum of voters if Hamas did not agree to the peace plan.
The plan - drawn up by Palestinian leaders jailed by Israel - calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel if Israel withdraws from the occupied territories.
"Mahmoud Abbas is completely mistaken," said one Hamas politician, Mahmoud Musleh.
"We cannot accept the recognition of Israel." Another, Sheikh Abu Teir, said: "The referendum [proposal] was extremely unexpected and unwelcome. We do not allow anyone to blackmail us."
Azzam al-Ahmad, who represents Fatah, countered: "The disagreement between Fatah and Hamas is critical. What we have seen of Hamas so far has been procrastination, stubbornness and inflexibility."
On Thursday, Mr Abbas took a bold political step by issuing his 10-day deadline for Hamas to accept the plan. At first, his gamble seemed a sure thing: either Hamas would moderate its position on Israel, or he would call a referendum on the issue, with polls suggesting that he would win.
Either way, the ploy looked sure to embarrass Hamas, while presenting the international community with undeniable evidence that the majority of Palestinians wanted to negotiate a peace deal with the Jewish state.
Despite initial equivocation, however, a hard line began to emerge from Hamas yesterday. Another Hamas MP, Mushir El-Masri, told The Sunday Telegraph: "Mahmoud Abbas has manipulated these talks. No one can impose his agenda on us. We are the government - not him."
Senior negotiators said the groups had reached deadlock.
Last week's move by Mr Abbas also wrong-footed Israel's government - already unsettled by last week's Washington trip by the prime minister, Ehud Olmert.
Senior Israeli coalition partners told The Sunday Telegraph they feared that Mr Olmert's government would collapse before he could implement his plan to pull Jewish settlers out of the West Bank, after he received only qualified support for this from President George W Bush.
The American leader described the pull-out proposal, which would sidestep negotiations with the Palestinians, as a "bold idea".
But Mr Olmert's opponents have already written off the trip as a failure because it did not secure cast-iron American backing - financial or political - for the scheme to evacuate 70,000 Jewish settlers from the West Bank before setting Israel's final borders.
Mr Olmert's coalition partners say Washington's lukewarm reaction has sealed the fate of the newly elected but fragile government, ensuring it lasts only two years - far too short a time to implement the pull-out plan.
"The US is not deeply, passionately committed to the withdrawal," said one Israeli cabinet member. "Olmert got enough out of Bush to come home the conquering hero. But no actual, concrete promise was made. We are only a month in and the government is already shaky."
Instead of preparing for the pull-out, the minister said the parties in the coalition were simply "going through the motions" before new elections.
Mr Olmert's government has been on an uncertain footing since his centrist Kadima Party won this year's election by a less-than-expected margin.
That forced the premier to assemble a coalition with only a slender grip on power. "There is no way anyone sees this government lasting more than two years," said an MP from the Labour Party, Mr Olmert's main coalition partner.
And we're still giving aide to these madmen because?
"radical Islamic group" .... Hamas
These guys.... try terrorist!
The Press is getting worst and worst!
Perhaps he means there will be problems paying [off] the pensioners ...
It beats the shi'ite outta me!
But we've been told by our leftist friends that it's all Israel's fault.
It doesn't matter; Israel can kick their butts. When the grenade comes to the Israelis, they can pull out the pin and throw it back.
If they don't recognize the existence of the State of Israel, then what are they calling that? "The Jewish regime", "the Palestine Jew Authorities" - just like the PRC calling the Republic of China (Taiwan) "the Taiwan Authorities" in the Orwellian fashion?
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