 |
|
Zahar
says all Palestinian factions should nip in the bud any attempts
to trigger an internicine conflict.
|
By
Mustafa el-Sawwaf, IOL Correspondent
GAZA
CITY, November 17 (IslamOnline.net) – The Palestinian resistance
movement Hamas has called for general elections in the occupied
Palestinian territories in post-Arafat era, encompassing presidential,
parliamentary and municipal elections.
Emerging
from a three-hour meeting with Mahmmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), head of the
Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO’s) executive committee
Tuesday, November 16, Hamas leaders agreed that national unity should
come first and foremost on the agenda of all Palestinian factions.
They
further said general elections should be based on “sound bases”
and virtual political partnership, asserting that the 1993 Oslo
autonomy accords can no longer serve as a springboard because Israel
has failed to comply with its terms and conditions.
“Make
no mistake: Hamas calls for general elections and is willing to take
part in new parliamentary elections not based on the Oslo Accords,
which, as far as Hamas is concerned, are now dead,” Hamas leader
Ismail Haniyah told reporters.
The
Oslo Accords were a series of agreements negotiated between the
Israeli government and the PLO in 1993 as part of a peace process
between the two sides, officially called the Declaration of
Principles.
Under
the agreement signed by late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat and
assassinated Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin, the Palestinian rule was
supposed to last for a five-year interim period during which permanent
status would be negotiated leading to the declaration of the
Palestinian state, which has never materialized.
“Illegal”
 |
|
“General
elections are the one and only way out of the current dilemma,”
said Haniyah.
|
|
Another
Hamas leader, Mahmmoud Al-Zahar, said the January 9 presidential
election would be “illegal” if it took the Oslo Accords as a
baisic reference.
“The
current Fatah-dominated parliament has no legitimacy as the Oslo
Accords came to an end,” Zahar told reporters following talks with
Abu Mazen in Gaza City, which included a delegation representing the
Islamic Jihad as well.
“An
elected non-Fatah president would not be able to virtually choose his
cabinet.”
Zahar
further said all Palestinian factions should nip in the bud any
attempts to trigger an internicine conflict.
Haniyah
agreed that the current parliament was neither “constitutional”
nor “legal”, noting that general elections were the one and only
way out of the current dark tunnel.
Arafat,
who symbolized the Palestinian struggle for independence for four
decades, died
at a French military hospital Thursday, November 11, at the
age of 75 of a still-unidentified illness.
The
caretaker of the Palestinian Authority, speaker of the parliament
Rawhi Fatouh, issued Sunday, November 14, a presidential decree
setting January 9 as the date for the long-anticipated presidential
election.
He
said that the election campaign will begin December 27 and continue
until January 8, the last day before the elections.
Former
premier Abu Mazen, who was appointed leader of the PLO, and jailed
West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi are likely to succeed
emblematic Arafat.
Unabated
Resistance
On
the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation, Haniyah
said the Palestinian people have every right to resistance as long as
they are under occupation.
“The
resistance will go unabated until the Israeli occupation army stops
its massive aggressions and withdraw from the occupied territories,”
he said.
He
further added the issue of armed resistance was not tackled during the
meeting with Abu Mazen.
“Now,
we seek to have elections that would enhance Palestinian national
unity, and the election of a leadership that would strive to restore
Palestinian rights, end the occupation of our lands and secure the
right of Palestinians to return to their homes.”
Zahar
added that the ball is now in the court of Israel, which should first
cease its daily aggressions and assassinations to live in peace.
Read
Also…
