Ramallah, WEST BANK/GAZA (Agencies)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday he would hold elections as planned in January unless Hamas agreed to an Egyptian reconciliation deal that would delay the polls until June.
"Our Basic Law stipulates that elections must be held before Jan. 24, 2010," Abbas told a news conference after meeting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
"According to the Egyptian document, elections should be held on 28th of June 2010. If there is an agreement (with Hamas) we will abide by it, but if there is no agreement we will abide by the Basic Law," Abbas said.
" Our Basic Law stipulates that elections must be held before Jan. 24, 2010 " Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Abbas made his comments as Hamas asked Egypt for more time to consider the Palestinian unity deal and demanded that it include a clause on the right to resist Israeli occupation.
"Hamas has officially asked Egypt to give it two to three days to complete its internal consultations," the Hamas-run government spokesman Taher al-Nunu told AFP, without giving further details. |
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Waiting for the response of Hamas " The Palestinian factions will not sign the accord ... unless the text includes the principles and the rights of Palestinians, especially that of resisting the Zionist occupation " Khaled Abdul Majid, Hamas Fatah meanwhile presented a signed copy of the proposed Palestinian unity agreement to Egyptian mediators, the party's chief negotiator said.
"I handed over the signed agreement and said what I had to say," Fatah negotiator Azzam al-Ahmed told AFP.
"Now we are waiting for Hamas's response. Today was the deadline for signing the deal there will be another meeting tonight to study what further steps are to be taken," said Ahmed after emerging from a meeting with Egyptian mediators.
A Damascus-based spokesman for Hamas and other hardline groups, however, had earlier criticized the agreement, saying it "lacks a political vision concerning the conflict (with Israel) and the aggression against our people."
"The Palestinian factions will not sign the accord ... unless the text includes the principles and the rights of Palestinians, especially that of resisting the Zionist occupation," said the spokesman, Khaled Abdul Majid. |
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal "We urge all Palestinian groups and national personalities to act rapidly and take those measures necessary to preserve the Palestinian cause from the dangers that threaten it and to insist on the historic rights of our people."
He said the deal proposed by Egypt should also include the question of "Jerusalem and the dangers of 'judaization' and permanent aggression that threaten this holy city," as well as "the right of return for Palestinian refugees to their homes."
Cairo has been struggling for months to get Fatah and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, to ink a national unity deal, but the two main Palestinian factions have repeatedly postponed the signing. |
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Hamas-Fatah conflict " Now we are waiting for Hamas's response " Fatah negotiator Azzam al-Ahmed The latest Cairo proposal is designed to pave the way for Palestinian elections next summer.
Palestinian Basic Law mandates that a new general election must be called at least three months before the end of the sitting parliament's mandate, a deadline which falls on Oct. 25. |
" We urge all Palestinian groups and national personalities to act rapidly and take those measures necessary to preserve the Palestinian cause from the dangers that threaten it and to insist on the historic rights of our people " Abdul Majid Egypt announced last week that Fatah and Hamas would sign the much delayed unity deal in Cairo on Oct. 25-26, but Hamas asked for a delay amid controversy over a damning U.N. report on the Gaza war at the turn of the year.
The Islamist movement had accused Fatah of "betraying" the Palestinian victims of the conflict after the Palestinian delegation at the U.N. Human Rights Council agreed to have a vote on the report deferred.
Abbas's four-year term expired last January, but Fatah has cited provisions in the constitution that require presidential and parliamentary elections to be held together to justify his remaining in office.
Hamas-Fatah tensions date back to the start of limited Palestinian self-rule in the mid-1990s when Fatah strongmen cracked down on Islamist activists.
They went up a notch in January 2006, when in a surprise general election rout, Hamas beat the previously dominant Fatah to grab more than half the seats in parliament. |
