WEST BANK: Abbas says he is ready to meet Hamas in Gaza to end division

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday declared a new initiative to end the division in the Palestinian ranks. He announced at a meeting in Ramallah of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council that he is ready to travel “tomorrow” to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to end the split.

"I am ready to go to Gaza tomorrow to end the division," Abbas said, "and form a government of independent nationalist figures to prepare for presidential and legislative elections, as well as elections for the Palestinian National Council [the PLO’s parliament-in-exile], within six months or as soon as possible.”

Abbas called on Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader who heads the government in Gaza and is a former prime minister whom Abbas had fired in 2007, to make the necessary arrangements with other factions  in Gaza to meet him at the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza. Abbas said he hopes the arrangements will be ready in the next few days.

Hamas, which has been referring to Abbas as the president whose term has expired, was quick to respond, and it welcomed Abbas’ initiative.  Hamas officials said that Abbas’ initiative came in response to an invitation Haniyeh had made to Abbas on Tuesday to meet him in Gaza or anywhere else to discuss reconciliation.

But Abbas made it very clear that he is not going to Gaza to discuss reconciliation or to hold dialogue with Hamas. Rather, he is willing to go for only one reason: to set up a new government of independents to prepare for national elections. He said he was ready to postpone forming a new government in the West Bank under current Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, whose government resigned last month, if an agreement is reached on forming the proposed government.

Fayyad had actually proposed to Hamas last month to form a unity government to run the country and prepare for national elections; he said he was willing to travel to Gaza to discuss the matter with Hamas leaders. But they were quick to reject his initiative, accusing the Western-educated prime minister of being a U.S. puppet.

Abbas, meanwhile, reiterated that he is not interested in running for a second term.

Abbas was elected in March 2005, promising his constituency to bring them comprehensive peace through a negotiated settlement with Israel.  When that failed after Israel had refused to stop settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Abbas decided not to run again.

In January 2006, less than a year after Abbas was elected, legislative elections brought his rival, the Islamist Hamas movement, to power. Elections for president should have been held in March 2009 and for the legislative council in January 2010. But because of the June 2007 split between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, when Hamas forces ousted Abbas’ army from the Gaza Strip, elections were suspended, and so was the parliament.

Since the split, Abbas and his Fatah group have been in a tug of war with Hamas. After waiting almost four years for the two sides to reunite, though, Palestinians have taken to the streets in a popular upheaval to force them to reconcile.

On Tuesday, thousands of Palestinians protested in the West Bank cities and Gaza Strip against the division. In Gaza, Hamas forces cracked down hard on the protesters, accusing them of being Fatah agents trying to destabilize its rule. The Palestinian Authority did the same n the West Bank, but to a lesser extent.

But apparently public pressure has made its mark on the leadership in Gaza and the West Bank, and the two sides are now talking about meeting to discuss reconciliation.

-- Maher Abukhater in Ramallah, West Bank

Comments

[manicdrummer]

If Abbas is willing to extend an olive branch to a terrorist group that can achieve their goals easier with him out of the way, he'd better have an escape plan lined up.

[ABG]

It's just you and me, Atrayu. This web portal has sold out to the extremists by putting our concerns in the proverbial toilet.

If Geoff Trapp and his EI buddies can hold an online vigil for a dead activist by calling Israel a bunch of killers, then you shouldn't expect real news from the region.

This paper blows.

[ABG]

Not covered by Edmund Sanders or Babylon and Beyond, i.e. the LA Times ace Middle East news coverage team:

"50 Mortars Fired Into Israel, 2 Injured"

http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=212838

And during the Jewish holiday of Purim, too.

Maintain your irrelevancy, LA Times, and keep pandering to the extremist, anti-Israel front. That'll score you brownie points.

[atrayu]

Palestinian militants in Gaza fired more than 50 rockets into Israel on Saturday, the heaviest barrage in two years, Israeli officials said.
Where is the world outrage on this?

[steveg68]

This should be another great opportunity for them to miss an opportunity.

[Joe]

@ jehudah..............And how many Palestinians does Israel have in its prisons? Some with a flimsy mere suspicion of being a "terrorist".

[Philip Smeeton]

In order to understand the Palestinian situation we have to define what a Muslim is.
Hamas og Fatah share a common allegiance to a greater power. It is a case of my religion right or wrong. A Muslim that fights for Islam is fighting for himself. Islam is a fundamental part of his identity and it is the duty of every Muslim to fight for the cause of Islam. He is absolved from any wrong-doing as any kind of deed no matter how despicable is permitted in order to further the cause of Islam. All other systems of belief are required to submit to the rigid dictates of Islam, including political belief. Islam regulates every aspect of a Muslims life. Freedom to a Muslim is total submission to the will of Allah and peace will only be achieved when every other form for allegiance has been subdued. This is the evil of Islam, its ruthless suppression of every other faith or way of thinking.

[Archibald]

The only reason that Hamas and the PA are negotiating is that both are horrified at the prospect of democratic revolutions sweeping Palestine.

Israel is equally afraid of an independent, democratic Palestinian state.

What is trust no one’s problem? He types as if he is drooling: Joooos. I have no idea what he meant to spell.

[bary]

Fanatastic news to those who want to perpetuate terror AND WAR !

[Jehudah Ben-Israel]

Let Abbas meet Hamas, as long as he realizes that the international community, i.e. UN, US, EU, Russia as well as Israel have demanded that before Hamas becomes a proper player in the Arab Israeli conflict and resolving it, Hamas must:

1) Accept Israel's right to exist

2) Cease all acts of terror and violence against Israel and all preparations for such acts

3) Adheres to agreements with Israel already signed by the parties

And, one other "minor" matter: Free Gilad Shalit now, without preconditions.

Let us hope Abbas realizes the above and pushes for their accomplishment rather than attempting to shed off these obligations from himself and from the Fatah, PLO and the Palestinian Authority over which entities he is in charge.

[atrayu]

Just read where Hamas is beating up student protesters so for Abbas to united with Hamas it is laughable!

[woobie]

This is hopeful, they do need to unite further to not only free themselves from occupation in the eyes of the whole world but to enable them to establish a long overdue two state solution and take rightful claim of their own sovereign state.

The USA should be ashamed of the $3 Billion plus a year sent to the oppressive military and illegal occupiers that is Israel.

(your tax dollars hard at work)

[Tom Birchfield]

"Abbas Man Of Peace"

Must be protected at all costs, for he is a man of Peace, our prayers go out for him and his people. 1.5 Million living in bondage over Israel's blockaid, that is illegal and wrong!

..."A time comes when silence is betrayal." ---Martin L. King

[Bob Johnson]

Looks like a prime opportunity for Israel to bomb alot of these animals back to Hell where they belong.

[2cents]

how do you tell the moderate "palestinian"? only two sticks of dymamite tied around their waist

[Filistiniya]

This is fantastic news. Israel is the only one benefitting from a rift between Palestinians. They must remember that they have a common enemy- the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine.

[trust no one]

Why shouldn't they reconcile? Their mutual hatred of Joooos is a bond that can't be broken.