28 March 2009

HAMAS "Will Not Recognise" FATAH Deals with Israel

Hamas will not accept nor recognise deals made between FATAH and Israel. And why should they, those deals failed miserably and there has now been a genocide in Gaza. Hamas won a landslide victory in a democratic election, therefore it is time to negotiate a new deal with Israel.

The Islamic Hamas movement on Saturday emphasized it will not recognize the peace obligations signed by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) with Israel.

Salah al-Bardaweel, a Hamas lawmaker, told the press that " Hamas can not accept the PLO's deals because any upcoming government would be formed by Hamas and Fatah and will reflect our views and we will re-compile any word the government speaks."

The PLO issue is still one of the biggest obstacles that prevents Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah from reaching a unity deal in the Egyptian-hosted reconciliation talks.

The peace deals are mainly referred to the 1993 Israeli- Palestinian peace accords reached in Oslo which enabled the creation of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and stipulated the peace negotiations between the PLO and Israel.

Asked if Hamas can accept the PLO commitments, al-Bardaweel responded with a question: "Why should we put all the Palestinians in Oslo's ragged basket?"

The unity talks aim at forming a coalition mainly comprising Hamas, which won the parliamentary elections in 2006, and Fatah, to overcome several internal and external problems. But since the dialogue is comprehensive, the reforming of the PLO was put on the table.

Fatah demands that the new government must recognize the PLO commitments so the international community will deal with it in return, but Hamas refuses. link