heyholetsgogrant
May-25th-2006, 09:10 AM
Abbas gives Hamas 10 days to recognize Israel
Otherwise, Palestinian leader says he'll seek referendum on issue
Thursday, May 25, 2006; Posted: 9:29 a.m. EDT (13:29 GMT)
(CNN) -- Palestinian rulers have been given 10 days to recognize Israel implicitly or face a territory-wide referendum on whether to accept the effective existence of the Jewish state.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the Hamas-led government on Thursday to accept the national goal of establishing a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank alongside Israel.
He said time was short and told a conference of Palestinian leaders that he would call a referendum if there was no agreement between his Fatah Party and the ruling Hamas in 10 days.
Hamas, which has historically vowed to seek the destruction of Israel, won control of the Palestinian Authority from Abbas' Fatah movement in a surprise election win in January. The United States, the European Union and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
Abbas' dramatic move came in a week of deadly clashes between militants supporting Hamas and Fatah and the day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the U.S. Congress that Israel would not wait "forever" for the Palestinians to agree to establishing borders. (Full story)
Palestinian militants imprisoned in Israel, including members of Abbas' Fatah Party and a top Hamas leader, drew up the plan, which calls for areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War to make up the Palestinian state.
"I will submit this document by the prisoners to a Palestinian referendum among all the people," Abbas said. "This is not a threat."
Speaking at the conference in Ramallah, West Bank, Abbas said the prisoners are united and have no factional interests that have internally divided Palestinian politicians.
"They [the prisoners] all discussed it together, and they came up with this product, which I think is a great product," Abbas said.
Abbas said the Palestinians have no time to waste with discussion, as the political and economic situation grows more difficult.
"In 10 days you have to decide; you have to agree," Abbas said. "If you don't agree, then I will say that frankly none of us will be responsible, and in 40 days I will call for a referendum. I will ask my people directly whether they accept or do not accept this document."
Earlier at Thursday's conference, Prime Minister Ismail Haniya called for national unity and a joint political platform between his Hamas party and Fatah, saying, "The best thing that we can work on is to remain united -- to work together."
"We are now passing through a very critical moment where all of us need to be behave very responsibly ... so that we can face all the challenges internally and externally," Haniya said.
Until its upset by Hamas in parliamentary elections, Fatah was the dominant force in Palestinian politics.
Destabilizing violence in the Palestinian territories increased this week as the Hamas-led government deployed its own militia against Abbas' orders. The action sparked a rivalry with existing Palestinian security forces and raised fears of a possible civil war.
In addition, a Gaza security chief loyal to Abbas was killed by a car bomb Wednesday, the third senior security official to be targeted in a week. Full story
A spokesman for the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority told CNN that the government wants to "stop all kinds of clashes."
"We wanted to tell the world that our convictions and our struggle is with occupation, not with each other," Ghazi Hamad said, referring to the Israeli presence in the West Bank.
Hamad's Fatah counterpart, spokesman Ahmad Abdul-Rahman, agreed, saying the Palestinian factions must forge common ground.
"We can restore our unity," he said on CNN, but noted that Hamas must still accept previous peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and recognize the Jewish state.
"We can achieve the support of the world. We can achieve the support of our people," Abdul-Rahman said.
"Now we are isolated because of this program of Hamas that was adopted while it was in opposition. Now when it is in the government, it is not working well."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/05/25/palestinian.talks/index.html
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Otherwise, Palestinian leader says he'll seek referendum on issue
Thursday, May 25, 2006; Posted: 9:29 a.m. EDT (13:29 GMT)
(CNN) -- Palestinian rulers have been given 10 days to recognize Israel implicitly or face a territory-wide referendum on whether to accept the effective existence of the Jewish state.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the Hamas-led government on Thursday to accept the national goal of establishing a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank alongside Israel.
He said time was short and told a conference of Palestinian leaders that he would call a referendum if there was no agreement between his Fatah Party and the ruling Hamas in 10 days.
Hamas, which has historically vowed to seek the destruction of Israel, won control of the Palestinian Authority from Abbas' Fatah movement in a surprise election win in January. The United States, the European Union and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
Abbas' dramatic move came in a week of deadly clashes between militants supporting Hamas and Fatah and the day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the U.S. Congress that Israel would not wait "forever" for the Palestinians to agree to establishing borders. (Full story)
Palestinian militants imprisoned in Israel, including members of Abbas' Fatah Party and a top Hamas leader, drew up the plan, which calls for areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War to make up the Palestinian state.
"I will submit this document by the prisoners to a Palestinian referendum among all the people," Abbas said. "This is not a threat."
Speaking at the conference in Ramallah, West Bank, Abbas said the prisoners are united and have no factional interests that have internally divided Palestinian politicians.
"They [the prisoners] all discussed it together, and they came up with this product, which I think is a great product," Abbas said.
Abbas said the Palestinians have no time to waste with discussion, as the political and economic situation grows more difficult.
"In 10 days you have to decide; you have to agree," Abbas said. "If you don't agree, then I will say that frankly none of us will be responsible, and in 40 days I will call for a referendum. I will ask my people directly whether they accept or do not accept this document."
Earlier at Thursday's conference, Prime Minister Ismail Haniya called for national unity and a joint political platform between his Hamas party and Fatah, saying, "The best thing that we can work on is to remain united -- to work together."
"We are now passing through a very critical moment where all of us need to be behave very responsibly ... so that we can face all the challenges internally and externally," Haniya said.
Until its upset by Hamas in parliamentary elections, Fatah was the dominant force in Palestinian politics.
Destabilizing violence in the Palestinian territories increased this week as the Hamas-led government deployed its own militia against Abbas' orders. The action sparked a rivalry with existing Palestinian security forces and raised fears of a possible civil war.
In addition, a Gaza security chief loyal to Abbas was killed by a car bomb Wednesday, the third senior security official to be targeted in a week. Full story
A spokesman for the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority told CNN that the government wants to "stop all kinds of clashes."
"We wanted to tell the world that our convictions and our struggle is with occupation, not with each other," Ghazi Hamad said, referring to the Israeli presence in the West Bank.
Hamad's Fatah counterpart, spokesman Ahmad Abdul-Rahman, agreed, saying the Palestinian factions must forge common ground.
"We can restore our unity," he said on CNN, but noted that Hamas must still accept previous peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and recognize the Jewish state.
"We can achieve the support of the world. We can achieve the support of our people," Abdul-Rahman said.
"Now we are isolated because of this program of Hamas that was adopted while it was in opposition. Now when it is in the government, it is not working well."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/05/25/palestinian.talks/index.html
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