Hamas, Fatah delay unity talks again

Hisham Abu Taha & Mohammed Mar'i

GAZA/RAMALLAH:Egyptian-mediated Palestinian reconciliation talks between rivals Fatah and Hamas set for next Saturday have been delayed for a month. A senior Fatah official on Saturday said that his movement and Hamas decided to postpone the talks until Aug. 25.

Azzam Al-Ahmed, a member of Fatah team to Cairo reconciliation talks, said in a press statement that the dialogue between the two groups had failed to reach a deal. “Egyptian officials decided that some issues required further discussion and efforts. The date for the last round of talks, July 25, does not leave enough time to resolve the differences,” said Al-Ahmed.

“So it was agreed to delay the talks until Aug. 25,” he added.

The rival Palestinian factions resumed reconciliation talks in February and had agreed to begin what they said would be a final round on Saturday.

Cairo has been mediating the talks between President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party and Hamas aimed at healing bitter divisions between the two, aggravated when Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

Hamas and Fatah delegations have been meeting in Cairo over the last two days to discuss the talks’ progress.

The talks hope to seal a deal which will lay out a new electoral law as well as define the make-up of security forces and of a committee to liaise between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank ahead of an election in 2010. Meanwhile, a senior Hamas leader on Sunday accused Fatah movement of creating a negative atmosphere by continuing to arrest Hamas members in the West Bank, and rejecting the Egyptian proposals.

In an interview with a local news agency Ma’an, Sami Abu Zuhri said that “Fatah is not interested in any national reconciliation”, while his movement has already accepted an Egyptian initiative to end political arrests and create an interim committee to govern the Gaza Strip and a joint security force.

“We in Hamas are ready to hold the elections but on the condition of holding it inside Palestine and in diaspora including the National Council and the Judicial Committee,” he said, accusing Fatah of seeking to delay elections slated for next January. He also said that elections would require an end to the siege of Gaza, the beginning of reconstruction in Gaza, the release of prisoners, and international safeguards against further Israeli arrests of Palestinian legislators.

Source : Arab News

Hamas rejects demand on Israel

Hesham Abu Taha, Arab News

GAZA: Hamas movement yesterday rejected Hillary Clinton’s demand to recognize Israel terming it as the “blatant interference into the Palestinian affairs.”

Hamas also rejected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s demand to agree to a two-state solution with Israel.

News reports on Friday quoted new US Secretary of State as saying that talks to reconcile Palestinian factions will be fruitful only if Hamas agrees to recognize Israel and other international terms. Ismail Redwan, a senior Hamas leader said in statements that his movement refuses the American interference in the Palestinian affairs, stressing that Hamas will not change its stance which refuses to recognize the “Israeli enemy.”

Abbas said yesterday any unity government with Hamas would have to agree to a two-state solution with Israel.

The disagreement could hamper Egyptian-brokered reconciliation talks aimed at ending a schism between the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, where Abbas’s Fatah faction holds sway.

“We are moving in steady steps toward ... a national unity government that abides by our known commitments, which include the two-state vision and the signed (peace) commitments,” Abbas said in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Hamas official Ayman Taha in Gaza said Abbas’s comments undermine chances for reaching a unity agreement.

“We reject any pre-conditions in the formation of the unity government. Hamas will never accept a unity government that recognizes Israel,” Taha said.

A dozen Palestinian factions including Fatah and Hamas began reconciliation talks in Cairo on Thursday to try to agree by March 20 on a unity government. Previous efforts by Arab negotiators to reconcile Fatah and Hamas have failed.

A deal could lead to the lifting of Israel’s blockade of the Gaza strip and boost Abbas’s peacemaking efforts with Israel.

The United States, Israel and the European Union shun dialogue with Hamas, citing its refusal to renounce violence, to recognize Israel and accept past peace agreements.

Abbas launched formal peace talks with Israel in 2007, though the negotiations have led to little progress.

Israel vows to continue war on Gaza

Israel has warned that the onslaught in the Gaza Strip could last for "weeks" as the fourth consecutive day of aerial attacks targeted several Hamas government buildings.

Around 350 people have been killed, many of them civilians, and local hospitals have warned they are unable to cope with any more casualties.

Palestinian medical workers said at least 10 people had died in the latest raids on Tuesday, with security guards and civilians among those killed.

But Israel said there would be no let up until the threat of Palestinian rockets attacks from the Gaza Strip had been removed.

"There is no room for a ceasefire," Meir Sheetrit, Israel's interior minister, said.

"The government is determined to remove the threat of [rocket] fire on the south.

"Therefore the Israeli army must not stop the operation before breaking the will of Palestinians, of Hamas, to continue to fire at Israel."

Four Israeli citizens have been killed by missiles fired from Palestinian positions since the offensive began on Saturday.

Military preparations

The Israeli army has been massing infantry and armoured forces along the border amid increasing fears that a ground invasion is planned.

Matan Vilnai, Israel's deputy defence minister, said the military "has made preparations for some long weeks of action".

On Monday, areas of the border were declared "closed military zones" and thousands of reservists have been called up by the Israeli military.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Gaza City, said that there was little the residents of the strip could do to prepare for any possible ground assault.

"In a city that is so densely-populated, a ground offensive would mean urban warfare, street-to-street fighting ... leaving many Palestinians in the crossfire," he said.

"Unlike other conflict zones where there is the possibility to flee the war zone, Gaza itself has become the war zone. There is nowhere for the population to go, they are in the middle of all these attacks."

Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, has added his voice to calls for an end to the violence.

Speaking at UN headquarters in New York on Monday, he said both sides should end the fighting and said regional powers should do more to help resolve the crisis.

"All this must stop," Ban told a press conference.

"Both Israel and Hamas must halt their acts of violence and take all necessary measures to avoid civilian casualties. A ceasefire must be declared immediately. They must also curb their inflammatory rhetoric."

Hamas blamed

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, said the Israeli offensive was aimed at Hamas and not the Palestinian people, urging civilians to leave for safer places away from places close to Hamas infrastructure.

"We tried to avoid this. You know that Israel accepted the truce that was initiated by the Egyptians in order to create peace and quiet. We adopted the truce. What we got in return? We got in return daily attacks, we got in return smuggling of weapons to Gaza Strip with long-range [capabilities]," she said.

Support for Israel came from the US, with the White House saying Hamas must halt cross-border rocket fire.

"In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire," Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman said.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Hamas approves first Gaza bank under its authority

By Adam Entous and Nidal al-Mughrabi
Hamas has approved for the first time the establishment of a new bank in the Gaza Strip under its authority, a move that could open a door to bypass a financial blockade imposed by Israel and its Western allies.

Islamic National Bank chairman Ala al-Rafati said the new financial institution had received a license from the government run by the Islamist group which controls the Palestinian coastal enclave and planned to open for business early in the new year.

Hamas said it will not control the new bank, an assertion disputed by its rivals in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where President Mahmoud Abbas's Western-backed Palestinian Authority is based.

Rafati likewise asserted that the bank had no factional affiliation, saying the venture was designed to boost local investment in Gaza's economy "in an environment of resistance," a reference to the conflict with Israel.

The Western-backed Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) in Ramallah, which registers and regulates established banks, said it would shun the Islamic National Bank, meaning the institution may have to function autonomously, without access to funds in the West Bank or to the global banking system.

"The PMA has not authorized the licensing of such a bank, and, accordingly, if there is such a bank, we will pursue every legal action to prevent it from operating," said PMA governor Jihad Wazir.

Matt Levitt, a former senior official at the U.S. Treasury Department, said such a bank would face serious obstacles.

"This would be mostly a bank in name only," said Levitt, an expert on militants' financing at the Washington Institute.

"It's unlikely that any international bank, let alone any Israeli bank, would have anything to do with any bank registered with Hamas and not with the West Bank-based government."

"NO SURPRISE"

Western diplomats said the emergence of an alternative banking system in the Gaza Strip should come as no surprise.

The United States and its European allies have long shunned Hamas, both financially and diplomatically, and cracked down on its access to funding after its 2006 election victory. The West cites Hamas's refusal to recognize Israel and renounce violence.

Israel tightened restrictions after Hamas routed secular Fatah forces loyal to Abbas and seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, increasing hardships for many of the impoverished territory's 1.5 million residents.

At the same time, the PMA has imposed new money-laundering rules, putting pressure on Hamas and other groups to find alternatives to the regulated banking system.

But Western diplomats said a growing, cash-financed trade through tunnels between the Gaza Strip and Egypt could provide enough liquidity for the new bank to function, free from Israeli restrictions that have pushed PMA-regulated banks to the brink.
Regulated banks in Gaza have been particularly hard hit by Israeli limits on their access to shekel banknotes, the main currency for Palestinians, making it hard for Abbas to bring in enough cash to pay wages to Palestinian Authority staff there.

Compounding the problem, Israeli commercial banks have decided to sever ties with their established Palestinian counterparts, citing the Israeli government's designation of Gaza as a "hostile" territory following Hamas's takeover.

Despite the boycott and other hurdles, a senior Western diplomat said the new bank, which will operate under Islamic rules that bar charging interest, could prove profitable.

"You get all the money ... from the tunnels ... and then you actually use it for investments within Gaza. You get a rate of return and you're using this liquidity more efficiently," the diplomat said.
Source : Reuters