President Abbas blames Hamas for failure of Cairo national unity conference

Tuesday November 11, 2008 14:54 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, blamed on Tuesday the ruling Hamas party in Gaza for the failure of the Cairo-based national unity dialogue, urging the league of Arab states to take a stance.

Palestinian President , Mahmoud Abbas

In a speech he delivered during a special ceremony marking the second anniversary of the death of late president Yasser Arafat in Ramallah city, Abbas stressed " we have accepted the Egyptian initiative for dialogue but Hamas leaders have aborted such a dialogue by boyotting the Cairo conference".

Abbas also called for ending what he termed the Hamas coup against legitimacy in Gaza, slamming harshly Hamas ban of a twin festival in Gaza , marking Arafat's death four years ago.

The Palestinian president also called for holding simultaneous presidential and legislative elections, urging those candidates 'who are confident of themselves to come to the ballots'

" Hamas does not want a genuine dialogue but rather wants to resort to the rational of force", Abbas was quoted as saying.

He also urged others to join the Palestine Liberation Organization, saying " those who wish to join , should abide by the responsibilities and resolutions involved, as PLO adds honor to others, while others add nothing to it".

The ruling Hamas party in Gaza requested early this week calling off a Cairo-hosted Palestinian national unity conference expected in November9. Hamas's point was that the PLO should not take the lead unless Hamas and Islamic Jihad are represented in PLO.

Since coming to power after January 2006's parliamentary elections, Hamas shunned peace with Israel, which the PLO undertook in 1993, signing peace accords with the Hebrew state.

In June2007, the Islamist party seized control of Gaza amidst factional fighting with the largest PLO's party Fartah of president Abbas. Abbas outlawed Hamas immediately and formed a caretaker government in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

ramallah | palestinian politics | news report rami at imemc dot org