Hamas suspends its meeting with Fatah to protest talks with Israelis

Hamas suspends its meeting with Fatah to protest talks with Israelis

[ 22/08/2010 - 11:36 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement said it suspended on Saturday its meeting with the delegation of Fatah faction in the Gaza Strip in protest at the executive committee of the Fatah-dominated Palestine liberation organization's acceptance to resume negotiations with the Israeli occupation.

Senior Hamas official Salah Al-Bardawil told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that the decision which was taken by the PLO made it difficult for Hamas to participate in its meetings with Fatah officials for the time being.

"Out of respect for ourselves, the feelings of our people and the Palestinian factions which oppose the concessions offered by Fatah movement and its flouting of the national consensus, we suspended this meeting," Bardawil said.

He affirmed that his Movement shelved the meeting because Fatah could use it as a cover for its negotiations with Israel.

For his part, Abu Ahmed Fouad, a senior official of the popular front for the liberation of Palestine (PFLP), stated Saturday that the decision taken by the PLO's executive committee dealt a blow to the joint work of the PLO's institutions.

"It is regrettable that the institutions of the Palestine liberation organization became nominal and no longer abide by its bylaws and regulations that were approved by the central council or the national council," Fouad said.

He added that some leaders of the PLO dominated the decision-making and disregarded the unanimous decisions taken by the PLO's institutions, citing as an example what happened in the last meeting of the executive committee which approved the direct talks with Israelis, although there was no quorum of voting members.

Al-Ahrar Movement also slammed the decision to resume talks with Israel, describing it as a departure from the Palestinian national consensus.

"We, in Al-Ahrar Movement of Palestine, categorically reject the resumption of these negotiations and consider that the Palestinian people are not bound by its results," the Movement said in a press release.

In different press statements to the PIC on Saturday, officials from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the PFLP all agreed on describing the resumption of negotiations with Israel as an unforgivable national crime and against the high interests of the Palestinian people.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that Fatah's involvement in negotiation with Israelis is a crime because this would provide them with a cover for their ongoing violations against the Palestinian people.

"When the occupation finishes its plans, there will be nothing to negotiate over because it will have annexed everything Palestinian, the history and Jerusalem. This makes the negotiations frivolous," spokesman Abu Zuhri underlined.

Senior Islamic Jihad official Khaled Al-Batesh stressed the need for stopping the negotiations between the PA and the Israeli occupation, adding that everyone participating in these talks is an accomplice in the Israeli crimes committed against the Palestinian people.

"We will do our best in international and Arab meetings to have any legitimacy conferred on these negotiations revoked," Batesh told the PIC, highlighting that the Palestinian resistance factions are ready to confront any aggression resulting from these talks on the Palestinian people and their rights.

PFLP official Jamil Mizher, for his part, warned that the resumption of peace talks with the Israeli occupation is a very serious matter and could eliminate the Palestinian cause entirely.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian