Abbas Addresses the PLO Central Council, Hamas Replies

PLO: "PLC paralyzed by Hamas coup; Palestinian National Council now source of Palestinian legitimacy" 

Date: 20 / 06 / 2007 Time: 19:19

Gaza - Ma'an - 

In a meeting of the the Palestine Liberation Organisation's central council on Wednesday, President Abbas accused Hamas' politburo chief of being behind an attempt to assassinate him.

The council also said that, following Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Legislative Council is currently "paralyzed." As a result, only the Palestinian National Council - the Palestinian parliament in exile - is the Palestinians' legitimate point of reference, the chairman of the session, Salim Al-Za'anoun, asserted.

The PLO central council convened in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday afternoon. The session was dedicated to the late Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat. President Mahmoud Abbas attended the session and detailed the latest developments following Hamas taking control of the Gaza Strip.

The council's session was chaired by the chair of the Palestinian National Council, Salim Al-Za'anoun. He opened the session with a memorial of the central council members who have recently passed away, and those currently detained in Israeli occupation prisons.

Al-Za'anoun announced that "the Hamas coup in the Gaza Strip has paralyzed the Palestinian Legislative Council, and [now], the Palestinian National Council, represented by its central council, has become the major source of Palestinian legitimacy."

In his address, the Palestinian president launched a fierce criticism against the actions of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, describing them as "criminal acts which were committed against the Palestinian people, their security headquarters and churches".

Abbas announced his rejection of any dialogue with Hamas, dubbing the movement, "a group of killers which accuses others of either treason or infidelity."

He continued, saying that the Hamas assaults in the Gaza Strip were a conflict between the Palestinian nationalistic project and the militias, "the project of the emirate of darkness."

President Abbas also alleged that he had received a video tape from a Hamas member, showing a plot to assassinate him in Gaza City.

He said, "The video tape showed four unmasked men, bearing Hamas slogans [on their clothes]. They were dragging an explosive mine, weighing at least 250 kilograms. The mine was planned to be planted in Salahuddin Street, where I was supposed to pass. I sent the cassette to Khaled Mesha'al, who denied it even before he saw the video tape."

President Abbas concluded by formally accusing Khaled Mesha'al of being responsible for the assassination attempt against him.

**updated 09:40, 21 June 07

Hamdan: Abbas’s speech full of falsifications and inconsistencies

[ 21/06/2007 - 09:19 AM ]

BEIRUT, (PIC)-- 

Osama Hamdan, the representative of Hamas Movement in Lebanon, has strongly deplored the speech of PA chief Mahmoud Abbas before the PLO’s central council Wednesday, and described it as “full of falsifications and inconsistencies”.

“The speech is an obvious narration of fabricated and false stories in a language that is inconsistent with Abbas's position”, said Hamdan.

He added that Abbas, as a Palestinian leader and the chairman of the PLO, shouldn’t close the door of dialogue with a faction he knows the weight of in the Palestinian arena for the sake of the US and Israeli blessing.

For Hamdan, Abbas’ rejection to start national dialogue with Hamas and his disapproval of the recommended Arab League's fact-finding committee were made under US and Israeli dictates and pressures.

In this context, Hamdan compared between the speeches of Khaled Mesha'al, the supreme political leader of Hamas, where he urged a national and frank dialogue on the one hand, and the speech of Abbas where he rejected any form of talks with Hamas at all costs on the other hand, highlighting the difference between the languages of the two speeches.

He also underlined that Hamas comprises majority of the Palestinian people, and thus, he affirmed that no one can ignore Hamas either by his own decrees or under the influence of external dictates.

Moreover, he charged that Abbas’s plan to amend the Palestinian election law was meant to design that law in accordance with the US and Israeli desire, and to ensure victory of “friends” of the USA and Israel in the Palestinian arena.

But he vowed that Hamas will not allow malicious attempts to split Gaza Strip from the West Bank to succeed at all costs, accusing Abbas of attempting to do so through his calls on the Israeli occupation government to stop electricity, water, and gas supplies to the tiny Strip.

“We will not accept such sick attempts to pass or even charge Hamas with attempting to split Gaza from the West Bank as we believe that those who had compromised Jerusalem and divided historical Palestine were the ones that compromised the Palestinian rights”, the Hamas official pointed out.

Fabricated assassination conspiracy: 

In addition, Hamdan reiterated his Movement's affirmation that what had happened in Gaza Strip wasn’t directed against Fateh faction, but, he explained, the campaign was directed against a certain security team in the Palestinian arena working on orders of US security coordinator Keith Dayton with the aim to strangle the Palestinian national project.

He affirmed that homes, headquarters, and freedom of Fateh leaders in Gaza Strip were protected as they (Fateh leaders in Gaza) can testify.

Commenting on Abbas’s allegation of Hamas’s conspiracy to kill him, Hamdan unveiled that Abbas was twisting facts, elaborating that he (Abbas) had called up Khaled Mesha'al and informed him about an alleged videotape on the alleged conspiracy, but when Mesha'al asked him to send a copy of the tape he never answered.

Finally, Hamdan accused Abbas of lying when he said he doesn’t want to transfer the clashes to the West Bank while hundreds of Hamas cadres were arrested and Hamas-affiliated institutions in many West Bank cities were ransacked and torched.

Al-Nasser Salahuddin Brigades reject Abbas' address, accusing him of following an "American security plan" 

Date: 21 / 06 / 2007 Time: 11:04

Bethlehem - Ma'an - 

Al-Nasser Salahuddin Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), rejected on Thursday what they called "confusions" in the latest address by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, which he made to the Palestine Liberation Organization central council on Wednesday.

"How could the door be closed to dialogue with an original sector of the Palestinian people, the Hamas movement, at this critical stage, while Abbas hurries to open all possible doors for negotiations with the Americans and the occupation?," a statement by the brigades inquired.

On Wednesday, Abbas rejected any dialogue with Hamas, dubbing the movement, "a group of killers which accuses others of either treason or atheism."

The Al-Nasser Brigades assured that all their political and resistance efforts would now be dedicated to aborting what they described as "the American security plan." They claimed that the American plan was based on spreading chaos and besieging the Palestinian resistance in preparation to stripping their arms gradually. The statement accused Abbas of "promoting and implementing" this plan.

"Abbas' address was an unprecedented formal announcement of the separation between the West Bank and Gaza Strip," the brigades commented.

In his address, the Palestinian president launched a fierce criticism against the recent actions of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, describing them as "criminal acts which were committed against the Palestinian people, their security headquarters and churches".

Al-Nasser Brigades said that they disagreed with Abbas' entire address except the part which said, "Gaza Strip will not become an Islamic Emirate, since Islamic rule is without boundaries and it will go beyond the Gaza Strip into the West Bank."

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