Last update - 01:37 05/11/2007
Small DFLP, PFLP factions attempt to mediate between Hamas, Fatah
By The Associated Press
Two small Palestinian factions, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, are trying to mediate between Hamas and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, DFLP Secretary General Nayef Hawatmeh said yesterday.
Hawatmeh told reporters that the two Damascus-based groups have proposed a ten-point mediation plan. The plan calls on Hamas to relinquish control over the Gaza Strip, which it wrested from Fatah last July in violent clashes. It also requires both parties to end media incitement and stop arresting members of the other group. Finally, it calls for new presidential and parliamentary elections, as well as an investigation into clashes between the two groups.
Hawatmeh said the plan was submitted to Hamas and Fatah officials last month, but the DFLP and PFLP are still waiting for a response.
Meanwhile, the head of the Hamas government in Gaza said yesterday that the Islamic group has no intention of taking over the West Bank by force and is ready to resume dialogue with Abbas.
However, Ismail Haniyeh also assailed Abbas's rival government in the West Bank, saying it has persistently tried to undermine Hamas's rule and even cooperated with Israel in tightening a blockade of Gaza.
"Palestinian politicians were involved in tightening the siege of Gaza," Haniyeh said in a 90-minute speech to hundreds of supporters at a Gaza City convention center. However, he did not refer to Abbas by name.
He also said that Hamas members were being systematically persecuted by Abbas's security forces in the West Bank. In recent months, Abbas's government has detained hundreds of Hamas members and closed Hamas-linked charities to try to dry up funding for the group.
Haniyeh said Hamas would not hand over its weapons in the West Bank, adding that "anyone who believes he can erase this great movement from the history of our people is completely mistaken."
Yet he denied that Hamas is plotting to take over the West Bank by force. Last week, a Hamas leader in Gaza caused an uproar when he said that Hamas activists would one day pray at Abbas's headquarters in the West Bank just as they are now doing in Gaza.
"I want to emphasize here that all the reports that we want to repeat what happened in Gaza in the West Bank are baseless, and this is not going to happen," Haniyeh said.
He also offered to resume talks with Abbas on a national unity government. Abbas has said he would only do so if Hamas apologizes and returns Gaza's security installations to his forces.
"We consider Hamas to be part of the Palestinian people and we are ready for dialogue if it backs off from its coup," Abbas said yesterday.