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Abbas: Continuing Gaza rocket fire gives Israel excuse to strike
By Reuters and Haaretz Service
Tags: israel news, fatah 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday said that the continuing rockets attacks from the Gaza Strip were providing Israel with an excuse to attack the coastal territory.

In a speech at a Palestinian hospital in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, Abbas attacked Hamas for its conduct during the three-week conflict with Israel, accusing the Islamist group of irresponsible behavior and of carrying out "an agenda which is not Palestinian."

"Those people [Hamas leaders] gambled with the future of the people, they gambled with the blood of the people, the destiny of the people and the dream of the people," Abbas said.
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"Why? Because of agendas which are not Palestinian," he added. Abbas and his conservative Arab allies say Hamas serves Iranian and Syrian interests, a charge it denies.

The Palestinian president said it was also irresponsible for Palestinian leaders to promote conflict while they and their families are safe.

"Leadership by sending messages from safe places, to throw people to perdition while you are safe and your families are safe and settled, that is not responsible," Abbas said.

"We cannot allow those people to tamper with this entity [Palestine Liberation Organization] for which thousands of people have sacrificed -martyrs, the wounded and the captives," he added.

Abbas also said dialogue with his rivals in the Islamist movement Hamas was impossible unless they recognise the supremacy of the PLO
"Now we say ... no dialogue with those who reject the Palestine Liberation Organization," Abbas told a news conference in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

"They must admit without equivocation or ambiguity that the organization is the sole and only representative of the Palestinian people. Then there will be dialogue," he added.

Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshal has advocated a new umbrella body to represent Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and in the diaspora. His
proposal was echoed on Friday in similar statements to cheering crowds by a senior Hamas political leader, Khalil al-Hayya.

Hayya said the PLO was dead, sent to the morgue by those who founded it. "It is high time the Palestinian people have a new leadership," he added.

Attempts to integrate Hamas and other Islamist groups into the PLO would have to reconcile deep differences over strategy toward Israel. Hamas believes in armed struggle, while Abbas says that dialogue and diplomacy are the way forward.

Egypt last week proposed February 22 as the date for the start of a dialogue between Palestinian groups, several of the groups said in reports published on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit of Egypt, which has been mediating between the groups, told reporters: "We will invite the Palestinian groups. We hope we will succeed in this in the third week or at the end of the third week of February."

Egypt came close to organizing a Palestinian dialogue in November but the Islamist group Hamas pulled out a few days before it was due to begin, saying the rival Fatah group has failed to meet its demand that it free Hamas prisoners.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the European Union see Palestinian reconciliation as one of the keys to progress towards an end to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza and towards a possible resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

The main parties are Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, and the Fatah group of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who since June 2007 has controlled only the West Bank.

The two sides agree in principle on the idea of a national unity government for the Palestinian Authority, but they disagree on whether Abbas still has a mandate to govern and on whether armed struggle is still a legitimate strategy for dealing with Israel.

They also disagree on the terms for reopening the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Abbas wants his forces to resume control there, but Hamas opposes that idea.

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  • Hamas deputy blames Abbas for breakdown in Palestinian reconciliation talks
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      1.   Mere Excuse 00:43  |  Brad 01/01/09
      2.   Abbas 00:01  |  Asher 01/01/09
      3.   You just do not fire your rockets, why to mention the word excuse 00:16  |  Romy 01/01/09
      4.   The irrelevant Mr. Abbas 00:20  |  Mark Lincoln 01/01/09
      5.   Who says? 00:34  |  Clickfool 01/01/09
      6.   #5 Clicky....whether you see him as Pres or not 00:29  |  Lynn 01/01/09
      7.   Army 00:29  |  Matthew Houston 01/01/09
      8.   The last rockets were fired by Abbas own armed wing 00:37  |  Petteri 01/01/09
      9.   #4 Mark Lincoln But the PLO rejected armed struggle ... 00:08  |  Smadar 01/01/09
      10.   Let`s play pretend... 00:22  |  Maureen Ann 01/01/09
      11.   It Doesn`t Sound Very Promising 00:39  |  Jeff Northridge 01/01/09
      12.   For once I agree with clickfool 00:52  |  Gregor 01/01/09
      13.   Why Hamas is giving Israel the excuse knowing Israel may respond? 00:59  |  Luigi 01/01/09
      14.   Hamas has no legitimacy 00:06  |  Reid 01/01/09
      15.   Abbas and the rocket fire 00:40  |  Romy 01/01/09
      16.   Gazan Rockets are Wonderful Opportunities... 00:28  |  The Archives 01/01/09
      17.   hamass/ legitimacy Reid 00:12  |  john and the TRUTH! 01/01/09
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