Abbas at loggerheads with Hamas over vote delay
AFP
Date: 06-05-05
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas was locked in talks with his governing Fatah party facing a deepening rift with rivals Hamas over his decision to delay parliamentary elections.
Gathering together Fatah's top officials on the Revolutionary Council, Abbas was securing his party power base before crisis talks with the Islamist radical movement in the occupied Gaza Strip later this week.
Besides discussing the postponed elections and Abbas's recent trip abroad, Fatah agreed to delay its first party conference in eight years, which had been scheduled just days before Israel is to begin pulling out of the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday, Abbas was due to head to Gaza for talks with the major Palestinian factions which are livid with his decision to delay the first legislative elections in the occupied territories in nine years.
Abbas announced the postponement to the July 17 polls on Saturday, capping weeks of speculation following his return from an extensive tour of Asia, the Americas and north Africa.
By contesting legislative elections for the first time, Hamas had been expected to command substantial political clout in the Palestinian parliament.
Spokesman of the radical movement, Sami Abu Zuhri, immediately condemned the "unilateral decision" which he said "risks causing chaos".
The backlash from Fatah was just as quick.
"This negative statement from Hamas is not helpful for Palestinian unity," said the Revolutionary Council on Saturday.
The prospect of Hamas romping home to victory in less than two months' time had rung alarm bells in both Abbas's Fatah party, which until now has dominated both the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian parliament.
Some officials within Israel had called for a delay to the planned Gaza withdrawal should the group behind some of the bloodiest attacks of the Palestinian uprising become a major political force in the territory.
Officials have touted November as a possible date for the elections, by which time the 10-week pullout should have been completed.
The Palestinian Authority said the new date is to be set following consultations with the different factions and after parliament has adopted a new election law, yet to be approved by Abbas.
Relations between Fatah and Hamas have been deteriorating for weeks. Partial re-elections in local Gaza councils have already been put off to avert a crisis.
On the ground, militants loosely affiliated to Fatah ambushed the interior ministry and local government building in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, accusing Abbas of failing to honour security promises.
The band of 20 militants from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades barged into the buildings, opened fire -- wounding one person -- and ordered everyone out, Palestinian security sources said.
"We demand that the Palestinian Authority, especially Abu Mazen (Abbas), keeps their promises. He promised us jobs in the security services and that he would secure our safety. We have seen none of it," Al-Aqsa said in a statement.
In Gaza, Palestinian officials said around 40 Fatah-affiliated militants who closed off access to the Egyptian border crossing in a similar protest Saturday would be granted security jobs.
Abbas made security reform a major priority after being elected leader in January following the death of Yasser Arafat.
In Jerusalem, the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting was dominated by a recent upsurge in criminal violence, following a series of headline-grabbing murders.
"Today, we will make decisions regarding the steps that must be taken in order to fundamentally change what is occurring today regarding all types of violence," said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Police chief Moshe Karadi was expected to call for a significant increase in the police budget and an extra 1,000 officers to cope with the increasing demands on the force, which is also to play a major role in the Gaza pullout.
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