Posted on 06/17/2007 9:30:04 AM PDT by anotherview
Jun. 17, 2007 14:00 | Updated Jun. 17, 2007 17:34
Abbas outlaws Hamas armed forces
By JPOST STAFF AND AP
RAMALLAH
A Hamas gunman stands guard in front of a mural showing the late Yasser Arafat outside his former compound in Gaza City.
Photo: AP
Newly-appointed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayad, right, shakes hand with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas during a swearing in ceremony for the new government at Abbas headquarters in Ramallah.
Photo: AP
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday issued a decree outlawing the armed groups of Hamas and said its members would be prosecuted.
The ban applied to Hamas's Executive Force, and to the group's other armed wings, according to the decree.
Abbas wrote that he decided to "consider the Executive Unit and the militias of the Hamas movement illegal, due to their military coup against the Palestinian legitimacy and its institutions."
"Anyone who is involved in any of these two groups is going to be punished, according to the law and the orders of the state of emergency," the decree said.
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Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that Abbas "unfortunately is involved in the American-Israeli conspiracy, along with some Arab parties, to bring down the Hamas movement.
"Hamas as a movement has ties and roots to the hearts of the Palestinians, and the resistance will continue and cannot be stopped," he said.
The decree came as a new PA cabinet headed by former finance minister Salam Fayad was sworn in.
In taking office, Fayad said the new government would work to end the chaos and provide security for the Palestinians.
"We are going to work with clean hands, systematically," he said.
Addressing the Palestinians in Gaza, he said: "You are in our hearts, and the top of our agenda. The dark images, the shameful things that are alien to our traditions ... are not going to stop us."
It is "time to work together for Palestine," he said.
Fayad said "The first piority of our government is security and the security situation. The mission will be difficult and hard, but not impossible."
In Gaza, Haniyeh called the new government illegal and insisted he would remain in power. "The council of ministers considers the steps adopted by President Mahmoud Abbas to ... have no basis in law," he said. "The national unity government asserts here that we are fulfilling our duty according to our law."
Likewise, Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said: "The Islamic Resistance Movement considers this government illegitimate and illegal. We will not recognize it. We will not work with it."
Despite its opposition to the government, Radwan said Hamas would not punish ministers in the new government who come from Gaza.
Khaled Abu Toameh contributed to this report
ping
This ought to get interesting
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Maybe we can arrange for Abbas to hire a B-52 for a week?
You do not defeat evil by showing it weakness.
Here’s a tip: don’t buy a house in a country where each religious sect has its own militia.
Maybe he should declare war on poverty, or drugs. Then we might take him cerially.
A change ladies and gentlemen.
Tonight the part of the Cowardly Lion will be played by :Mohamed Abbas.
“I’m warnin’ ya’ here!
Ya’ betta’ do wha’ I says, or I’ll smash my face into your fist, and really mess up your knuckles. Got tha’??
Well, OK then.”
Don't forget gun control legislation!
I know, I know,...it’s Mahmoud. Not Mohamed.
Sorry.
I agree with you. The question now is will the U.S. and others prop up Abbas to try and get him to take on Hamas. That seems to be what the Bush administration is planning to do. I am uncomfortable with any action that gives arms to ANY Palestinian group and I have no faith in Abbas.
Watching Abbas (and Maliki in Iraq) reminds me too much of Alexander Kerensky defending Russia from Lenin or Franz von Papen dealing with the Nazis.
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(Palestinian President) Abbas outlaws Hamas armed forces
Also outlawed under the Oslo Agreements are the al Aska Martyr's Brigages, the PFLP, the DFLP, in fact any and all non-govermental armed groups. We'll see what Abu Mazen does.
Not a bad historical comparison, though I believe Maliki has been "in power" in Iraq now longer than either Kerensky in Russia or van Papen in Germany. Of course, neither Kerensky nor van Papen had the world's strongest military helping them out.
Oh, I bet that proclamation has Hamas quaking in their boots!
Abbas better watch his back.
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