Hamas: No unity deal until Abbas apologizes over Gaza report

The Islamist Hamas movement said Wednesday that no reconciliation deal could be cemented with the rival Fatah faction until Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas apologizes for agreeing to delay a debate on the Goldstone Commission's Gaza report.

Hamas representatives asked Egypt - which has been mediating unity negotiations between the Palestinian groups - to postpone a ceremony to sign a pact with Fatah.

Hamas and other factions accuse Abbas of giving instructions Friday to withdraw Palestinian support to have the report compiled by a fact-finding team headed by Judge Richard Goldstone sent to the UN General Assembly.

The report alleges that Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during the December-January offensive against Gaza-based militant groups.

Salah al-Bardawil, a senior Gaza-based Hamas leader said in a statement that "the crime of postponing the vote on Goldstone's report left a severe psychological crack, and Abbas should immediately apologize to the Palestinian people."

Fatah and the Islamist movement have been at loggerheads since June 2007, when in a week of bloody violence Hamas gunmen routed security officials loyal to Abbas and the Palestinian Authority and seized control of the Gaza Strip.

Cairo is scheduled to invite leaders of the Palestinian factions, including exiled Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal and Abbas, to sign a deal which would end the inter-Palestinian rift this month.

But al-Bardawil said serious contacts were under way with Egypt to study the effects postponing the vote on the Goldstone report would have on the reconciliation attempt.

He added that "there have to be Arab guarantees that Abbas would no longer take or make decisions unilaterally".

Several officials from Abbas inner circle admitted Wednesday that he had erred in agreeing to delay action on the Goldstone report.

Hamas urges protesters in Gaza to throw shoes at Abbas photo

Earlier Wednesday, Hamas and some of the other factions called a rally against Abbas' decision - and have instructed demonstrated to throw shoes at the president's picture as a show of their opposition.

The picture, hanging hung in a central square in Gaza city. has a large X on Abbas' face and reads: "Abu Mazen[Abbas] to the dumpster of history."

The Goldstone probe is a 575-page United Nations report that alleged both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during Israel's three-week offensive against the Islamic militants in Gaza last winter.

A member of Abbas' inner circle said Wednesday that the Palestinian leadership made a mistake by suspending action on the UN report - the first such acknowledgment after days of protests in the West Bank and Gaza.

In Gaza, public outrage at Abbas reached a new level on Wednesday, when the hundreds of posters criticizing the Palestinian president appeared in public areas around Gaza City.

Moreover, the Israeli Arab party Balad has called a rally in Acre for Saturday at which it plans to demand that Abbas resign over the decision, which it termed "a political crime." This is very unusual, as Israeli Arab parties generally refrain from coming out openly against the PA leadership.

"Someone who ignores the occupier's crimes and even tries to whitewash them cannot be the legitimate representative of his people," Balad said in a statement.