GAZA - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may appoint an emergency
government or call early elections after the latest efforts to form a unity
coalition with Hamas failed, his aides said on Tuesday.
A stalemate between Abbas and the Hamas-led government over agreeing a unity
cabinet has triggered the worst internal fighting in a decade and stirred fears
of civil war.
The Hamas Islamist movement denied talks were at a dead end, but said the
latest initiative, presented in Gaza by Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin
Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, was unacceptable because it included recognition of
Israel.
Abbas media adviser Nabil Amr said the options open to Abbas to break the
deadlock were sacking the government and appointing an emergency cabinet,
calling for new elections or holding a referendum to let the Palestinian people
decide what to do.
"The president will study them and pick which is best," Amr told a news
conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Palestinian Information Minister Youssef Rizqa of Hamas said he hoped
contacts would not be broken off and that from Hamas's point of view a unity
government was still possible.
"We believe that there is a chance to pursue the dialogue from where it has
ended," Rizqa told reporters in Gaza.
Mediation overnight by Qatar's Sheikh Hamad in Gaza failed to resolve the
row, Abbas's aides added.
Amr said there was no point talking with Hamas, which has struggled to rule
since the West imposed sanctions on the government for refusing to recognise
Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace deals.
Hamas says it will never recognise Israel. The group says it will only abide
by peace agreements with the Jewish state that are in the "interests of the
Palestinian people".
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
(R) and Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani
talk during their meeting in Gaza October 9, 2006.
[Reuters] |
Palestinians had hoped formation of a unity government would end the
crippling Western embargo, in place since Hamas took office after stunning
Abbas's Fatah movement to win January elections. Fatah seeks a negotiated peace
with Israel.
PROPOSALS REJECTED
Government spokesman Ghazi Hamad earlier said Abbas's aides were trying to
"poison the atmosphere".
"There is no room to talk about early elections or an emergency government,"
Hamad told a news conference.
Ahmed Youssef, a senior aide to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, said
the movement rejected two points in proposals presented by Sheikh Hamad. This
included agreeing to a two-state solution to resolve the conflict with Israel.
"As Islamists we cannot accept this," Youssef told Reuters.
Sheikh Hamad met Abbas and Haniyeh separately late on Monday night after
earlier meeting Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, who lives in exile in Damascus.
Underscoring tensions, Abbas refused to meet Haniyeh.
Abbas remained in Gaza on Tuesday and attempts by Hamas to arrange talks with
Haniyeh have so far failed, officials said. Abbas is due to return to Ramallah
on Wednesday.
Fatah argues Abbas has the right to call early parliamentary elections or
take other measures such as holding a referendum. Hamas disputes this.
Either option could spark renewed fighting.
Fifteen people have been killed in clashes since talks on a coalition
government foundered, the worst internal violence since the start of Palestinian
self-rule in 1994.