Masha'al of Hamas calls for ending mutual arrests

Sunday October 12, 2008 15:36 by Rami Al-Meghari - IMEMC & Agencies

The exiled supreme political leader of the Hamas party, Khaled Masha'al, called from the Qatari capital on Sunday to stop political arrests in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Khaled Mash'al

The Hamas leader called for the release of all detainees being held in Gaza's Hamas prisons and those in Fatah's of the West Bank, urging both sides to stop incitement campaigns against each other.

In a speech he delivered during the sixth conference on Jerusalem in Douha under the patronage of the Emir of Qatar, Mash'al pointed out that current Hamas-Fatah dialogue in Cairo is expected to produce an agreement and that therefore all forms of incitement should come to a halt.

He voiced his party's willingness to have fruitful national unity talks, making clear that there were parties in the West Bank that intend to undermine such a unity by continuing arrests of Hamas supporters and members.

"You are too late to intervene to end the Palestinian division in a time you have been able to do so," Mash'al blamed the Arab states.

On another note, the Hamas leader warned of what he called Israeli plans to transform the occupied city of east Jerusalem by digging beneath the Al-Aqsa mosque, making clear that all Palestinian rights could not be restored through negotiations with Israel.

Masha'al's comments came while representatives of his Islamist party and the Fatah party of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas are taking place in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.

Hamas took over Gaza in June 2007 amidst factional fighting with the secular Fatah party, as President Abbas outlawed Hamas one month later due to what Abbas described 'Hamas coup against legitimacy'.

Since then, the Hamas-led government has been arresting Fatah loyalists in Gaza, as the Abbas-led caretaker government in Ramallah has been cracking down on Hamas members in the West Bank

Hamas and Fatah have been at loggerheads since Hamas took power after January2006's parliamentary elections.

arab world | palestinian politics | news report rami at imemc dot org