 |
 |
 |
|
|
Hamas leader, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, left, and the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, during a meeting in his office in Gaza City, Saturday. (AP)
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By Israel Insider staff and partners February 5, 2006 |
|
| |
 |
| Children dressed in military fatigues, one holding a toy gun, crawl on the ground during a parade, part of a rally by Hamas against the publication of cartoons in European newspapers. (AP) |
| |
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas agreed that the terrorist Hamas group will take control of Palestinian security forces after it assumes power, and has not demanded that it recognize Israel or Palestinian-Israeli accords if it wants to form the next government, a Hamas leader said.
Another group leader predicted that a Hamas-led government would be in place by the end of the month.
Abbas met with Hamas leaders Saturday night for the first time since the group routed his long-ruling Fatah Party in Jan. 25 parliamentary elections, unnerving Israel and the West.
Abbas, who was elected separately last year and wants to restart peace talks with Israel, must now work out a power-sharing arrangement with the Islamic terrorist group, which is committed to Israel's destruction and has killed hundreds of Israelis.
Israel's Channel 1 TV reported that Abbas sought to maintain control of Palestinian police in his meeting with Hamas, but Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said no such demands were made.
"There is no truth to baseless reports that President Abbas wants to take over the security institutions," Haniyeh told reporters after the meeting.
Abbas, who didn't comment after the meeting, has not said he wanted to retain authority over the 58,000-member Palestinian police. But other senior Fatah officials have insisted that Fatah-dominated security forces wouldn't submit to Hamas control.
Abbas, who has said he plans to stay on as president, has said he intends to ask the new Cabinet to honor the Palestinian Authority's previous deals with Israel. Asked if any conditions were imposed on Hamas as the price of forming the new government, Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh replied, "It's natural that the incoming government must be in harmony" with Palestinian commitments.
But Hamas leaders on Saturday said Abbas didn't demand they recognize Israel or honor agreements with Israel if it wants to be tapped to put together the next government.
The Palestinian president "did not pose any political conditions related to the agreements, or to anything else," Haniyeh said.
Asked if Hamas would honor past deals with Israel, he replied, "The Israeli occupation has to recognize our legitimate rights first." Negotiations with Israel, he added, "are not on our agenda."
As for recognizing Israel, another Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar said, "We are not going to recognize the Israeli enemy."
Their rejectionist tone, however, isn't a consistent part of Hamas rhetoric, which contains conflicting messages. On one hand, the group says it remains committed to destroying Israel, but on the other, it has expressed willingness to extend a year-old truce if Israel reciprocates.
Abu Rdeneh and Haniyeh said the new, Hamas-dominated parliament would convene for its first session on Feb. 16. If Israel doesn't let Hamas lawmakers from Gaza travel through Israel to the seat of the Palestinian government in the West Bank town of Ramallah, then the group will use videoconferencing to include them in the deliberations, Haniyeh said.
With Saturday's meeting, unofficial consultations on forming a new government have begun, Haniyeh said. After parliament meets Feb. 16, Hamas will nominate a prime minister and submit that name to Abbas, who would then formally charge the nominee with forming a government, he added.
Although Abbas has not yet chosen Hamas for that job, Abu Rdeneh said that as the biggest bloc in parliament, it will be the group's "right to form the Cabinet."
Zahar predicted a Hamas-led government would be in place by the end of February, and Haniyeh said it would be made up of politicians from various parties and technocrats.
Hamas, a novice to national politics, has invited Fatah to join a governing coalition, but hasn't received an official answer, Haniyeh said earlier Saturday. In the past, senior Fatah officials have said the party, which dominated Palestinian politics for four decades, would not agree to take a junior role in a Hamas-led government.
An alliance with Fatah would allow Hamas to sidestep dealings with Israel, which the Palestinians cannot avoid entirely, if only for economic reasons. Palestinian infrastructure is heavily intertwined with Israel's, and most Palestinian imports pass through Israeli-controlled borders.
But Fatah, ousted by voters fed up with corruption and lawlessness on Palestinian streets, could be well served by letting the inexperienced Hamas grapple solo with the Palestinians' many challenges, most prominently, relations with Israel and an impoverished economy.
Hamas' landslide victory and adherence to its call for Israel's destruction has threatened continued Western aid to the perpetually cash-strapped Palestinian Authority. Israel, meanwhile, has said it would not talk to a government that includes Hamas unless the group disarms and recognizes Israel's right to exist.
Fallout from Hamas' victory continued to reverberate over the weekend. The U.N. Security Council demanded that the group recognize Israel and commit itself to a negotiated settlement of the Mideast conflict. And NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance's efforts to build ties with the Palestinian Authority have been cut short.
In related news, top Hamas politicians were scheduled Sunday to set off on a tour of Arab and Muslim countries to try to drum up money and political support, Haniyeh said. They also plan to meet with movement leaders living in exile.
The AP contributed to this report.
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
