Hamas Defies Abbas Call To Moderate Anti-Israeli Strategy

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 6-6-2006 | Tim Butcher

[blam]

Hamas defies Abbas call to moderate anti-Israeli strategy

By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem
(Filed: 06/06/2006)

The Hamas-led Palestinian government looked certain last night to defy the moderate leader Mahmoud Abbas and reject his demand to soften its stance towards Israel.

With no sign of Hamas meeting a midnight deadline to back the so-called Prisoners' Accord, a proposal recognising the right of Israel to exist within pre-1967 borders, the stage was set for a referendum, which Mr Abbas had promised to hold in 30 days if his plan was rebuffed.

Tension between armed factions from Fatah and Hamas is expected to worsen as the referendum looms

As Hamas indicated it may boycott the referendum, a major political crisis and a serious deterioration of violence between armed supporters of both groups loomed.

Mr Abbas is gambling on winning a popular mandate for the accord by tapping into the 56 per cent of voters who did not support Hamas in last January's elections.

It is not clear what will happen if Hamas is unhappy with the outcome of the plebiscite. A Hamas boycott would undermine the authority of the result.

Recent tension between armed supporters of Mr Abbas's Fatah faction and the Islamic Hamas movement is expected to worsen in the lead-up to a referendum.

Five people died in skirmishes yesterday, bringing to 15 the number killed in recent fighting, while Hamas gunmen seized control of a television studio in the town of Khan Yunis, claiming pro-Fatah bias in the station's coverage.

Last month Mr Abbas announced that the Prisoners' Accord, a document drawn up in a top-security Israeli jail and signed by representatives of Fatah and Hamas, would be the foundation of future Palestinian relations with Israel.

While the document reiterates the right of all Palestinian refugees to return to land taken by Israel when it was founded in 1948, its explicit acceptance of Israel's right to exist on pre-1967 borders is historic.

Fatah made this crucial shift in the early 1990s, during the Oslo peace process. Under Yasser Arafat's leadership, Fatah accepted the terms negotiated in Oslo with their commitment to a "two-state solution'', meaning Israel and Palestine existing alongside each other.

Now Mr Abbas is trying to persuade Hamas to accept the deal so that a united Palestinian front can be presented to international negotiators working on where the borders will lie between Israel and the putative Palestinian state.

Without agreement on his side, Mr Abbas fears Israel will fulfil its threat to unilaterally impose borders, annexing permanently land it occupied in the 1967 war.

Since Mr Abbas committed himself to the accord, representatives of Fatah, Hamas and other major Palestinian factions have been trying to agree a way of accepting the accord unconditionally.

Mr Abbas said yesterday he would prefer a negotiated agreement between the factions.

"The referendum is not a target itself,'' he said. "It is a means.

"We are still talking. But if we fail … we will have no way but resorting to the people.''

In the Gaza Strip, Hamas officials reacted angrily. "We feel that the approach is to impose the document on us,'' said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman. "And that is something we don't accept.''

Mr Abbas has identified a common negotiating position that accepts Israel's right to exist as the only way to get out of the current socio-economic crisis gripping the Palestinian government. Since Hamas came to power the international community has withdrawn monthly funding and Israel has imposed tight military and economic sanctions.

[blam]

"...a serious deterioration of violence between armed supporters of both groups loomed."

Good. Maybe they'll kill each other.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

I'm shocked!