Hamas, Fatah agree to end chaos over security control
23/4/2006 9:58
Senior leaders of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and
the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) agreed on late yesterday to end current
chaos sparked by a dispute over the control of the Palestinian security
forces.
Fatah spokesman Maher Meqdad told reporters that Fatah and Hamas
leaders reached an agreement brokered by high-ranking Egyptian security
officials who arrived in Gaza on Saturday afternoon to end the current tension
between the two groups and the chaos it resulted in.
"We agreed to end
tensions as well as all kinds of provocations and clashes," said Meqdad, adding
that the two sides also agreed during the five-hour-long meeting held in an
Egyptian diplomat's residence in Gaza to form a joint follow-up
committee.
The Fatah spokesman also revealed that the groups urged both
President Abbas and the Hamas-led cabinet to work together to "end differences
and disputes."
A statement issued after the late Saturday meeting also called
upon all the Palestinians to stop any actions which "lead to tensions" in order
to boost "national unity and maintain the Palestinian people's rights."
The
Hamas-Fatah meeting came following fierce clashes between Hamas loyalists and
Fatah supporters in Gaza City triggered by a dispute over the control of
Palestinian security forces.
Witnesses said that hundreds of Fatah supporters
blocked the main roads in Gaza City, burned tires and chanted slogans against
Hamas' politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, who accused Abbas and Fatah members of
being corrupted and attempting to topple the Hamas-led cabinet.
Speaking to a
rally of supporters in Damascus on Friday, Meshaal, who lives in exile in Syria,
also said that Hamas rejected Abbas' veto of a Hamas cabinet decision to appoint
a top militant to head a new security force.
Palestinian chief negotiator and
senior Fatah member Saeb Erekat slammed Meshaal's speech on Saturday as "very
dangerous", urging Hamas to immediately recant the statements and shoulder its
duties.
Dozens of Palestinians were injured in the clashes.
The row over
the control of the Palestinian security forces erupted as the Hamas government
decided to create a new security troop and appoint Jamal Abu Samhadana as the
general inspector of the Interior Ministry.
Abu Samhadana is head of the
Popular Resistance Committees, a top militant high on the wanted list of Israel
for alleged involvement in anti-Israeli attacks.
But Abbas vetoed the cabinet
decision on Friday, terming it illegal, while Hamas retorted that the decision
came within law and the Palestinian national interests.
Hamas defeated Abbas'
Fatah movement in the January elections and its government formally took office
on March 29. But the security forces consist mainly of Fatah members and
supporters.
The radical Islamic group has rejected Abbas' calls to open talks
with Israel and honor previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements, insisting on
Israel's destruction.
Xinhua News
|
